Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The number of registered political parties is expected to be decreased on a large scale in near future because the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared December 2, 2017 as the final deadline to fulfill the requirements of the newly-passed Election Act 2017 to remain intact as political party.

ECP on Friday issued another notice to 352 enlisted political parties seeking the details of their workers. As per new law, it is mandatory for each party to submit a list of at least two thousand members along with their signature or thumb impressions, while they are also bound to provide the National Identity Cards (NICs) of these members.

The first notice in this regard was issued by the ECP on 20 October, 2017. However, not even a single party submitted the required list of its workers so far.

A spokesperson of ECP, Haroon Khan Shinwari, said that it was the third notice to remind the political parties to submit the required documents.

“We are also going to publish a warning in newspapers and if the parties fail to comply with the provisions of the law, their registrations would be cancelled under Section 202(5) of Elections Act which pertains to the membership of political parties,” he said.

The notice further asked the political parties to attach the proof of deposit of two hundred thousand rupees as enlistment fee along with the details of membership.

“A large number of parties registered with ECP are unknown or relatively less known as compare to major parties,” an officer of ECP said.

“It is expected that the number of registered parties will decrease as they don’t have the required number of workers.”

A considerable number of those parties, which were active in past are also expected to be removed from the list because the same parties are currently dead ie Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan, Pakistan Peoples’ Party Parliamentarians (Patriots) and Millat Party.

On the other hand, the smaller parties found themselves in hot waters as they are unable to furnish the details of their members in ECP.

As for instance, when contacted, the President Tehreek-e-Ittehad Ummat Pakistan Syed Charaghud Din Shah said: “First of all, I don’t know about the new law and even otherwise it is near to impossible for us to submit the details of two thousands members.”

Similarly, Tehreek-e-Tabdili Nizam Pakistan Chairman Nawab Muhammad Iqbal claimed that he was in contact with several parties and they were planning to challenge the new law in court as the criteria set by the parliament was against the fundamental rights being citizens granted in the Constitution of Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, November 25^th 2017.