ECP allows President Asif Ali Zardari to participate election campaigns

In what appeared to be a shocking development, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a notification allowing President Asif Ali Zardari and governors of four provinces to take part in election campaigns.

According to the notification issued by the commission, the president and the governors have been removed from the list of public office holders barred from taking part in election campaigns. The recent development is a clear deviation from the draft code of conduct prepared by the commission for the coming general elections.

It is vital to mention here that the prime minister, chief ministers and members of cabinets, including advisers, haven’t been allowed to take part in elections campaigns. However, the restriction was not meant for the president and governors as mentioned in the draft code of conduct for the 2013 general election.

The notification stated, “After the issuance of schedule of an election, the prime minister, chief minister, federal ministers, advisers to the president and the prime minister, provincial ministers and advisers to chief ministers will neither visit the area of any constituency where an election is being held nor shall they openly or in secret give any subscription or donation or to make promise of giving such subscription or donation to any institution of a constituency, nor shall inaugurate, commit to undertake or announce any development project therein for the advancement of the campaign of a candidate of his choice and thereby influence results of that election.”

The notification warns that any of these public office holders, if found having misused their official positions to influence the result of an election whatsoever, may lead to legal action involving contempt proceedings.

According to the notification, executive authorities in the federation and provinces shall neither use state resources anywhere in the country for unfair advantage of a particular candidate or a political party nor exercise undue influence affecting the interest of a candidate or party for participating in any election.

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Posted by Web Desk on Dec 7 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.