ECP reschedules prohibited funding hearing to 8th

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday delisted a case pertaining to the forfeiture of funds received by the PTI through prohibited sources. The hearing will now be held on July 8 that was earlier fixed for July 6.

During June 6 hearing, a senior PTI lawyer had sought more time to file a reply to the notice, which was issued in August last year to the party.

The commission gave four more weeks to the party to do the needful.

This development comes on the eve of hearing of the case, initiated last year, when on August 2, the Election Commission with consensus issued a judgment in the almost eight-year-long case filed in November 2014.

As a legal requirement, a show-cause notice was issued to the party through its chairman for seizure of the funds, found to have had been received through prohibited sources. No reason has been given for delisting of the case.

Meanwhile, as a part of its ongoing activities in relation to the preparations for the upcoming general election in the country, the Election Commission Wednesday started imparting training to the lead trainers. A three-day training for the District Returning Officers (DROs) and Returning Officers (ROs) has been started at Pakistan’s Electoral Academy for Democratic Practices, Research and Management (PADRM) at the ECP Secretariat, Islamabad. The training session will conclude on July 7 and 33 officers from the ECP will be trained who will further impart training to 142 DROs and 859 ROs from all four provinces. Separately, the commission spokesperson has completely denied a news item published in the media regarding the census. It was clarified that neither a meeting was conducted regarding the census, nor was it being discussed in any meeting of ECP. “The Election Commission of Pakistan is bound by the law & the Constitution; all the decisions and actions are taken strictly in accordance with the Constitution and law,” the spokesperson maintained.