ECP asks political parties to submit statement of accounts before Aug 29

"This is with accordance to Article 13 of the Political Parties Order 2002, which states that every political party has to submit a statement of accounts to ECP within 60 days from the closure of each financial year," said an official of ECP while talking to APP.

In addition to this, ECP has also issued directives to all party chiefs to submit an undertaking declaring that their respective party does not collect funds from any unlawful means, he said.

The commission has made it clear that the all financial statements must be legitimate.

Any party that breaches the deadline will be deemed ineligible for taking part in the general elections.

Earlier, the ECP had sent directives to all the political parties to send a summary of the assets owned by them.

According to the election laws, every parliamentarian has to submit a statement of assets and liabilities of his own, his spouse and dependents annually to the ECP in September every year.

The statements should be delivered to the Secretary, ECP through an office-bearer of the party, duly authorized by the party leader.

Under rule 11 of the Political Parties Rules, 2002, the statements received through post, fax, courier service or any other mode will not be entertained, the official added.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011