The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Thursday rejected a bill seeking the release of funds for holding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in line with the directives issued by the Supreme Court.
In a brief conversation with Dawn.com after the committee meeting wrapped up, panel chairman Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh said that the bill was rejected.
“This bill… as it was not allocated in our budget and the finance minister has said that funds are not available, there was no other option [so] we rejected it.
“We do not have any other fund, right — the committee does not have funds of its own. The alerts that we have been given […] the entire committee has collectively rejected the bill,” he said.
The Supreme Court on April 4 had fixed May 14 as the date for the polls in Punjab and directed the federal government to release election funds worth Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by April 10 for elections to both assemblies.
The government, instead of disbursing the funds to the commission, had referred the matter to Parliament.
The bill, titled “Charged Sum for General Election (Provincial Assemblies of Punjab & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Bill 2023”, had been tabled by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the NA and the Senate on Monday. However, both sessions had been adjourned that day.
During today’s meeting, committee chairman Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh raised an objection on why the bill was presented before the finance committee and not the budget committee.
The committee then rejected the bill.
