Election Funds: Will will bell commission Cabinet or Parliament?
Analysts say government and cabinet are confused whether to decide or not to release funds to Election Commission themselves or to let Parliament do it
An important meeting of federal cabinet under chairmanship of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was held at PM House yesterday. In meeting, there was a detailed discussion regarding giving funds to Election Commission for general elections of Punjab. According to sources of News 360, most of members of federal cabinet emphasized that order of Supreme Court should not be negated.
According to details, in the meeting of Federal Cabinet on Sunday, it was decided to refer issue of releasing funds to Election Commission of Pakistan for holding elections in Punjab on May 14 as per the order of Supreme Court.
Federal Cabinet meeting was held at Prime Minister House, Islamabad, in which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif participated from Lahore through a video link. The meeting lasted for two hours, no agenda was issued before the meeting.
In the meeting, most of the cabinet members including Riaz Pirzada, Sajid Tori, Maulana Abdul Wasi, Hashim Notizai, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Azam Nazir Tarar, Atta Tarar and Amir Muqam participated in the meeting through video link.
During the meeting, apart from Punjab election funds, the strategy to resolve issues related to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 was discussed.
It was suggested in the meeting that funds should be released to prevent any adverse decision on violation of the Supreme Court’s April 4 decision.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court has ordered the government to release 21 billion rupees to the Election Commission by April 10.
Regarding giving funds to the Election Commission, some members of the cabinet suggested that it is not only a problem of the cabinet, it should be taken to the parliament and the decision of the parliament should be implemented. On the basis of which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has summoned the federal cabinet again today, while a joint session of the parliament has been convened at 4 o’clock.
Speaking to the media in Model Town Lahore after the meeting, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan said that the government will not take any unconstitutional step. However, he said that there were two decisions of the Supreme Court: one by four judges and the other by three judges. What is the original decision? He said that Justice Athar Minullah’s decision has raised many new questions.
Meanwhile, a press release issued after the cabinet meeting said that the meeting also discussed in detail the legal and constitutional aspects of the 4-3 decision of the court and the resolution passed by the National Assembly on April 6, 2023. .
The press release added that after detailed discussion and consultation on the matter, the Cabinet unanimously directed the Finance Ministry to take guidance from the Law Ministry to prepare a summary after seeking guidance from the Parliament on the matter.
Commenting on yesterday’s meeting, analysts say that the government and the cabinet are confused whether to decide whether to release funds to the Election Commission or not, or to ask the parliament. Because tomorrow, if the Supreme Court imposes contempt of court on April 11, then the Prime Minister alone will go or the entire Parliament will go.
