The standing committees on finance of both houses of the Parliament on Thursday unanimously rejected the bill that the government had proposed this week for settling a dispute over Rs21 billion payments for holding elections in two provinces.
However, the voting out of the bill by both the committees and subsequently any such move by the Parliament will not have any material effect on the demand for the Rs21 billion budget by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Under Article 81 of the Constitution, the spending on elections is a charged expenditure and the Parliament does not have a voting right, it can only debate the issue.
In their separate sittings today, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and the Senate Standing Committee on Finance recommended to their concerned houses to reject the Charged Sums for General Elections (Provincial Assemblies of the Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Bill 2023.
The decisions by both the standing committees suggest that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will fight till the end to stop holding provincial assembly elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
PTI’s Senator Mohsin Aziz voted against the bill on the ground that the introduction of the bill was unconstitutional and the matter should not have been brought before the Parliament.
Other members rejected the bill on the grounds that the country cannot afford to have elections in Punjab alone and that the government did not have the fiscal muscle for Rs21 billion spending on elections due to the deepening economic crisis.
The meetings of the standing committees were suddenly convened a day earlier. The members from the ruling alliance received phone calls from the Prime Minister’s Office and from their parties to attend the early morning meetings and vote against the bill, at least three members of these committees told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity.
There was only an allocation of Rs5 billion for elections in the current fiscal year’s budget and any excess payment to the ECP would stress the budgetary targets, said Dr Aisha Pasha, the Minister of State for Finance.
The chairman of the NA standing committee, Qasier Ahmed Sheikh of the PML-N, was reluctant to consider the bill due to the continued absence of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar from the committee proceedings. He at one point threatened to resign in protest against Dar’s continued absence from the committee.
We are bound to follow the party instructions and it is not the day to link the approval or rejection of the bill with Ishaq Dar’s appearance, said MNA Ali Pervaiz of the PML-N.
MNA Khalid Magsi of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) also opposed the bill and said that holding elections in Punjab alone would give negative signals to smaller federating units.
The government this week had introduced the money bill in Parliament to shift the onus of approving Rs21 billion funds on Parliament besides gaining more time for releasing money that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had directed to disburse to the ECP by April 10.
Clause 3 of the bill stated, “The sums payable to the Election Commission for general election to the province of Punjab and the province of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa shall be an expenditure charged upon the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF).”
However, the government cannot stop the charged expenditures, which under the Constitution have to be released if demanded by the concerned department.
Through the money bill, the government had taken the path given in Article 79 of the Constitution, which gives custody of the FCF to Parliament. But the Constitution mandates the government to release the funds even without the introduction of any new law.
The government can still provide funds to the ECP under Article 84 of the Constitution which deals with supplementary and excess grants in a fiscal year.
The Election Commission is required to submit a report in the Supreme Court on Friday on whether we have received the funds, Omar Hamid Khan, the Secretary ECP, told the NA committee.
Due to the worsening economic crisis, the members of the cabinet have taken personal financial hits by not claiming their salaries as ministers, how can we approve a bill to give Rs21 billion for holding elections, said Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Faisal Sabzwari.
If the government cannot provide Rs21 billion for fulfilling a constitutional obligation, then it should declare default, said Senator Mohsin Aziz of the PTI.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Senator Musadiq Malik said that the dispute over the holding of elections in Punjab was rooted in many controversial decisions by the Supreme Court and the issue of a delay in elections should not be seen in isolation.
The members also pointed out that even if the elections are held on May 14th, it will be beyond the 90 days constitutional limit.
Read the full story at the express tribune website.
