ISLAMABAD  -  In order to remove the impression of any delay in the holding of general elections in the country, Finance Division on Tuesday released Rs17.4 billion for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in addition to Rs10.0 billion released in July 2023 to conduct general elections on February 8. 

This brings the total released amount to Rs 27.4 billion for holding general elections, said a statement issued here on Tuesday. “Finance Division remains committed to the provision of funds as and when required by the Election Commission of Pakistan”, the statement added.

The timely development, ostensibly with the involvement of caretaker PM, dispelled the impression about further day in February polls due to unavailability of funds.

“Finance Division has released Rs17.4 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan in addi­tion to Rs10.0 billion released in July 2023 for conduct of general elections in the country,” said the ministry on Tuesday in a brief statement. “This brings the to­tal released amount to Rs. 27.4 billion for holding general elec­tions.

The Finance Division remains committed to provision of funds as and when required by the Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan,” it added. The development came a day after the ECP raised con­cerns over the non-provision of funds. The Commission has also written a reminder to the finance department for disbursement of funds. Over an unsatisfactory re­sponse, the commission had also decided to inform the caretaker prime minister about the matter. On it, Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal assured the elector­al watchdog of disbursement of funds for upcoming general elec­tions scheduled to be held on Feb­ruary 08 next year.

Caretaker Minister for Informa­tion and Broadcasting and Par­liamentary Affairs Murtaza Sol­angi Monday ruled out any ‘crisis on meeting the financial needs of the ECP’ in order to hold free, fair and transparent general elec­tions in the country. “The Cabi­net had approved Rs 42 billion for the budgetary needs of the ECP. An amount of Rs10 billion was already released,” the min­ister wrote on X formerly Twit­ter. He said the Election Commis­sion of Pakistan had approached the government to get released Rs17.4 billion, out of the budget­ed amount. “Whatever budgeted amount is needed by the ECP, will be released as per its needs ac­cordingly,” Solangi added.

In July this year, the ministry of finance had decided the govern­ment would release funds for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in phases for conducting general elections 2023 in the next few months. The ECP had sought Rs42.528 billion from the ministry of finance in July this year for con­ducting general elections 2023 in the next few months. The Econom­ic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet last week had ap­proved a summary of the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding the demand for funds of Rs 42.528 billion as Technical Supplementa­ry Grant (TSG) for conduct of gen­eral elections in FY 2023-2024. However, the funds would be re­leased in different phases. The ECC allowed Rs 10 billion as first re­lease and further release on need basis. The National Assembly, in April this year, had rejected a mon­ey bill that the government had ta­bled to seek funds for conducting polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa in line with the Supreme Court’s orders. The National As­sembly rejected the Charged Sums for General Election (Provincial Assemblies of the Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Bill 2023 with a majority vote after former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in­formed the house that the stand­ing committee had recommended not to approve the bill.