ISLAMABAD – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has geared up efforts to finalise the procedures ahead of the next general elections.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan on Monday held a meeting to discuss the scrutiny of nomination papers of election candidates. Officials of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and power and gas utilities attended the meeting on the request of the ECP.
The CEC said that the nomination papers will be scrutinised in a swift way and as per Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. An eight-day timeline has been set for the process during the meeting, while the also included the FIA in the process for the first time, Geo News reported.
Taking benefit from the technology, the ECP has decided to conduct online scrutiny of the candidates in the upcoming 2018 general election, enabling returning officer to get instant information if any applicant is defaulting.
ECP Information Technology DG Khizer Aziz, while briefing the meeting, said ROs would send the candidate’s name, identity card number and constituency name to the government institutions. The officers would get details about the candidates online.
The ECP is expected to receive around 30,000 nomination papers as it had received 26,000 in 2013 elections, the DG said.
The election body also sought recommendations from the government departments to make the process more speedy in order to avoid backlog.
The incumbent government’s tenure is set to expire on May 31, while general elections are expected to be held in last week of july or first week of August.
