ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Election Commission was asked on Wednesday to take notice of the blatant violation of the code of conduct for the forthcoming general elections by the candidates of almost all the leading parties.

Speaking at a seminar on “pre-election scenario” organised by an NGO working for the cause of democracy and independent media, experts said this violation included use of massive money to influence the poor segments of the society, violation of the size of publicity material, harassment of voters, display of arms and the use of local and regional issues to manipulate the voters.

The speakers regretted that this time the Election Commission had not issued a separate code of conduct for the Pakistan Television and the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation.

They observed that the public service broadcast was not fair to all the political parties and asked the commission to help stop propaganda of a specific political party at the expense of the taxpayers’ money.

The speakers at the seminar arranged by the Centre for Media and Democracy (CMD) also noted that while under the rules the candidates for the national and provincial assemblies were bound to keep their election expenses under Rs1.5 and Rs1 million respectively, the law was silent on expenditure of political parties that ran into millions.

On the occasion, Election Commission Secretary Kunwar Mohammad Dilshad said the returning officers concerned were taking notice of the complaints against the violation of the code of conduct.

He said the EC had once again sent copies of the code of conduct to the political parties and asked them to ensure its implementation in letter and spirit. He said the printing of ballot papers had been completed well in time and the papers were ready for dispatch to the districts.

Mr Dilshad said the Election Commission had appointed 125 district returning officers, mostly district and sessions judges; 484 returning officers, mostly from the judiciary; and 1,027 assistant returning officers to conduct the elections.

He said the Election Commission had placed a ban on the use of state resources and misuse of official position by the executive authorities in the federation and in the provinces as well as by the district, tehsil, town nazims in order to ensure holding of free and fair polls.

According to the secretary, transfers and postings of civil servants have also been banned till the completion of the poll process.

He said the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had been directed to monitor the operations of all TV channels, including the state-owned television (PTV) to ensure that coverage of the political parties was fair, unbiased and balanced.

Mr Dilshad said comprehensive training had been imparted to 350,000 polling officials under the supervision of international experts. Besides, orientation programmes have been arranged for the district returning officers and returning officers at the provincial headquarters.

He said an extensive public awareness campaign had been launched by the Election Commission to inform the voters about the importance of vote and how to exercise it, their right and responsibilities, and the importance of general elections through an education programme on the print and electronic media.

Special arrangements have been made for international observers, in collaboration with Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to enable them to observe the proceedings of the upcoming polls. Visa requests for the observers will be processed by the government within 72 hours, he added.

The CMD also launched a comprehensive report on “pre- election scenario-observations and concerns” on the occasion.

Reading out abstracts from the report, CMD Chairman Ayub Munir said the organisation was concerned over the fact that almost 1,556 complaints were registered with the Election Commission across the country.