ECP notifies victory of 22 candidates, withholds notices of 13 others for not disclosing campaign costs

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A market decorated with banners and flags of different political parties ahead of elections, in Karachi. —AP
A market decorated with banners and flags of different political parties ahead of elections, in Karachi. —AP

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday notified 22 candidates who had emerged successful in the October 14 by-elections, however, it withheld victory notifications of 13 candidates for not disclosing the cost of their respective election campaigns.

Notifications were issued to seven candidates of the National Assembly, eight candidates of the Punjab Assembly, three candidates of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and two candidates each of the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies.

Of those that were issued notices included Khwaja Saad Rafique who had contested for the NA-131 Lahore seat, Chaudhry Salik Hussain who stood from NA-65 Chakwal, and Moonis Elahi who ran for the by-elections from the NA-69 Gujrat constituency.

Besides these, Shaikh Rashid Shafique who won from NA-60 Rawalpindi, Zahid Ikram Durrani who secured victory in NA-35 Bannu, Malik Sohail Khan who triumphed in the NA-56 Attock by-polls, and Alamgir Khan who emerged successful from NA-243 Karachi were all issued notifications by the commission.

ECP did not issue notifications to 13 successful candidates who had failed to provide details of the cost incurred during election campaigning activities. Among those whose notifications were withheld include Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ali Awan, Mansoor Hayat Khan and Ali Gohar Khan.

The commission also directed all members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies to submit their statement of accounts for the current financial year as well as those of their family members by December 31.

The parliamentary members who fail to provide their yearly statement of accounts with details including property inherited or otherwise; bank account details; cash, jewellery in possession; cars owned, etc will have their membership suspended on January 16, the commission warned.

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