Election 2024: Finance Ministry releases funds to ECP

Following the Ministry of Finance’s assurance to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), funds for the upcoming general elections were released on Tuesday, ARY News reported.

According to the details, the Ministry of Finance has released Rs 17.4 billion to the ECP for the preparation of the general elections which were scheduled to be held on February 08, 2024.

In July 2023, the Ministry of Finance released Rs 10 billion out of Rs 42 billion from the funds reserved for the preparation of general elections, after which the total amount released to ECP reached Rs 27.40 billion.

Earlier to this, the ECP on Monday took notice and summoned the Secretary of Finance for the non-provision of allocated funds reserved for the general elections 2024.

Sources close to the development revealed that a total of Rs 42 billion was reserved for the preparation of the general election 2024 in the financial year budget, while the Ministry of Finance has only released Rs 10 billion so far.

Sources within the ECP state that the remaining funds for the election are being interrupted without any prior justification from the ministry, as the electoral watchdog is currently in need of Rs 17 billion immediately.

The ECP sources claimed to penned down a reminder and approached the Ministry of Finance repeatedly for the provision of election funds, but failed to get any positive response.

Following concerns raised by the electoral watchdog, the Ministry of Finance assured the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that funds for the upcoming general elections, scheduled to be held in February 2024, will be released soon.