Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has barred a few mainstream political parties from contesting elections after their failure to submit financial record on time. Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), PML-Zia, PML-Junejo and Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party are among the parties failed to submit their statements and are subsequently barred from contesting any future election. However, the ban will vacate once the parties submit their asset details.
Out of 345 political parties registered with the ECP, only 31 submitted their financial record before the final date. The political party that did not submit financial records before the final submission date, 29 Aug, will neither be allowed to contest any future election, nor will be assigned electoral symbol, the notice reads.
In terms of Article 14 of the Political Parties Order, 2002, a party, which fails to submit its statement of the accounts under Article 13, will not be eligible to obtain election symbol for contesting elections for the Parliament and the provincial assemblies, according to the ECP statement.