DM Monitoring
ISLAMABAD: In the run-up to the national election, some returning officers (ROs) are rejecting re-quests to disclose documents, which detail the assets and liabilities of prominent politicians, which is in violation of the election laws.
Since last week, Geo Election Cell and Geo Fact Check have been trying to obtain the nomination pa-pers and Form-B filed by politicians with the Election Commission of Pakistan, ahead of the February 8 parliamentary election, but their attempts have been blocked by several ROs.
Form-B is a statement of assets and liabilities of a candidate, his/her spouse and dependent children.
Both departments of Geo Televisions have sent requests, as well as made several attempts, to get copies of the nomination papers filed by Maryam Nawaz for NA-119 (Lahore), Shehbaz Sharif for NA-123 (Lahore), Fazlur Rehman for NA-44 (DI Khan), Shazain Bugti for NA-253 (Dera Bugti) and Asif Ali Zardari for NA-207 (Nawabshah).
Section 138 of the Election Act 2017 calls for the publication of Form-B. It further instructs the ECP to publish the statement of assets and liabilities of all candidates in the official Gazette, as well as provide the information to “any person” who wants a copy on payment of a prescribed fee.
Yet, on January 13, Geo Fact Check’s team reached out to RO Munir Hussain Chopra for the Form-B of Maryam Nawaz for NA-119 in Lahore, Punjab. Chopra promised to share the document with Geo Fact Check’s team but has to date (January 17) not provided the information, despite being sent several reminders.
When Geo Election Cell visited the office of the RO in DI Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to ask for a copy of the nomination papers, including Form B, of Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is contesting for NA-44, the RO told the reporter that he would not provide the documents, claiming that they contained “sen-sitive” and “personal” information about the politician.
Geo Election Cell then tried to obtain the nomination papers filed by Shahzain Bugti for NA-253 in Dera Bugti, Balochistan. But the reporter was refused, as the returning officer alleged that only a “voter” from the constituency can be provided the document.
The RO’s claim is contrary to the law, which clearly states that “any person” may obtain the docu-ments.
However, Geo Election Cell was able to acquire a copy of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s nomination papers for NA-127 (Lahore).
Separately, Geo Fact Check reached out to the Election Commission about the refusals. Its deputy spokesperson, Hamid Raza Khan, claimed that the electoral body was still “processing” and compiling documents from candidates, and they would be provided at a later date.
It must be mentioned again that the law allows any person to access these documents once the scru-tiny of the nomination papers is complete.
Also, before the 2018 national election, these documents were made public on the Commission’s website.
