ECC approves Rs42.5bn grant for general elections

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Thursday approved a grant of Rs42.5 billion for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold general elections.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the ECC meeting, which approved the grant.

The federal cabinet will give the final approval of the funds for the elections.

According to reports, the finance ministry will initially release Rs10 billion to the ECP.

The development comes after the electoral body said the general elections would be held by October 11 if assemblies are dissolved by August 12.

Speaking to the media today, ECP Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal said the electoral watchdog was ready to conduct the elections within the stipulated time if funds were released.

The five-year term of the National Assembly will come to an end on August 12.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that the government would be handing over the country’s reins to a caretaker setup in August.

Meanwhile, confusion also persists about whether the coalition partners would go for the normal dissolution of the NA on completion of its term on August 12, or advise the president for an early dissolution.

According to Article 224 of the Constitution, “A general election to the National Assembly or a provincial assembly shall be held within a period of 60 days immediately following the day on which the term of the assembly is due to expire unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved”.

In case of early dissolution, the ECP is bound to hold the general elections within a period of 90 days after the dissolution, according to Article 224(2).

While most allies have called for holding elections on time, notably the PPP, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said earlier said the assemblies could be dissolved before the scheduled date to “facilitate” the ECP.