EC plans to stop use of graft money in polls
ISLAMABAD: As part of its efforts to make the electoral process transparent and the results unquestionable, the Election Commission will put in place a mechanism to check the use of 'illgotten' money in the polls and scrutinise the statements and declarations of the contesting candidates and elected representatives.
An EC official told Dawn on Thursday that in collaboration with the Auditor General Pakistan Revenues andFederal Bureau of Revenue a fully-fledged 'political finance wing' would be set up soon to streamline political finance.
He said that nomination papers and annual statements would be modified which would require the candidates to disclose if they held a foreign nationality and give 'true' details of their assets and liabilities and the taxes paid.
The trend of undervaluing property and other assets would bechecked by subjecting those statements to scrutiny, he added.
About the steps being taken to ensure fair and credible elections, the official said that a proposal for using special imported paper with watermark and non-market specifications in the general and local government elections had already been approved.
He said magnetised ink would be used for obtaining thumb impression of voters to obviate the possi-bility of impersonation and bogus vote casting.
Election tribunals will hear the petitions on a dayto-day basis and decide the cases within four months of their receipt in accordance with Section 67 of the Representation of Peoples Act.
He said that work to ensure use of 'Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the polls was in progress, adding that a high-level EC delegation attended an internationalconference in Brussels on EVM to learn from experience of other countries.
He said a draft bill was being sent to parliament for amendment in the Representation of Peoples Act, 1976, and the rules framed there under, adding that the EC being an independent and constitutional body would formulate its own rules. He said a summary seeking full financial autonomy had already been sent to the prime minister.