ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has constituted a committee to identify tax evaders, loan and utility bill defaulters and beneficiaries of written off loans to prevent them from running in the upcoming elections, DawnNews reported.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim presided over an election commission meeting in this regard on Wednesday. The meeting was also attended by the State Bank Governor Yaseen Anwar, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chief Ali Arshad Hakeem, and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) officials.

According to sources, it was decided that a mechanism would be developed by a committee comprising these five institutions to identify those who were tax evaders or bank defaulters. Such culprits would subsequently be disqualified from candidacy in the polls.

At a press conference held after the meeting, the SBP governor and FBR chief said full cooperation would be provided to the election commission in order to ensure that free and fair elections are held. Tax and asset details of election candidates will be available to the ECP via online access, they assured.

NAB Director General Sher Afghan said that the records of all those investigated by NAB will be provided to the ECP.

Meanwhile ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan said that he had asked for 30 days for the scrutiny of election candidates but that Parliament had recommended 14 days instead. He added that the verification will be completed in a timely manner.