Campaign finance inequality in Pakistan is expected to worsen during the upcoming election cycle. An amendment to the Election Act 2017 has created a loophole, allowing wealthy candidates and those backed by special interests to exceed campaign spending limits without fear of legal consequences.

It is an incontestable fact that money in politics can tilt the playing field, erecting formidable barriers for aspiring candidates of assemblies and the Senate who lack strong connections or deep pockets. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), like regulatory bodies elsewhere, has established limits on campaign spending by candidates.

The law permits the Senate aspirants to spend up to Rs1.5 million, National Assembly candidates Rs10m and those contesting for a provincial assembly seat the maximum of Rs4m. What has actually been spent by candidates in the past three elections (2008, 2013 and 2018) has been assessed to be at least five times (500 per cent) the limit for all tiers, a fact that no one contests and even ECP officers accept privately.

According to some unsubstantiated accounts, in Punjab, provincial assembly seat aspirants have already spent more than the permissible limit on purchasing PTI tickets in the current election cycle before the party disintegrated post-May 9, 2023 events.

A recent amendment in the Elections Act 2017 has created a significant loophole that allows a candidate to claim that the spending has been made by ‘someone’ without his consent and knowledge if expenses are disputed

The challenge of effectively enforcing these spending limits has been a long-standing issue. However, instead of enhancing the existing legislation and its enforcement mechanisms to ensure a level playing field for all candidates in elections, a recent amendment inducted in the Election Act 2017 has effectively eliminated any control of the ECP over the cost of election campaigns.

The eighth chapter of the Election Act 2017 Article 132, titled: ‘Election expenses and statement of assets and liabilities’, subtitle ‘Restriction on election expenses’ has five clauses. The fifth clause reads: “If election expenses of a candidate are disputed, the Commission may conduct an enquiry to ascertain whether the election expenses, incurred by any person other than the candidate, were incurred with his permission and if the expenses were incurred without his permission, it would not be deemed to be election expenses on behalf of the candidate”.

The last two lines of the above clause, “if the expenses were incurred without his permission, it would not be deemed to be election expenses on behalf of the candidate,” absolves a candidate of any legal consequences for busting the limits on campaign spending. All a candidate needs will be an affidavit claiming that x or y expenses were incurred by someone without his permission or knowledge to make the consolidated amount of campaign spending ‘kosher’.

Even the defunct over four decades old law that preceded the current Election Act — Representation of the Peoples Act 1976 (ROPA), was clearer on election spend of candidates. Chapter six of ROPA deals with election finances and states: “Provided that when any person incurs any election expenses on behalf of such candidate, whether for stationery, postage, telegram, advertisement, transport or for any other item whatsoever, such expenses shall be deemed to be the election expenses incurred by the candidate himself”.

Attempts were made to reach the chief election commissioner and the officer heading the ECP’s financial transparency cell for comments, but the gentlemen didn’t respond till the filing of the report.

Haroon Khan Shinwari, spokesperson ECP, responding to queries on the financial conduct of political parties and candidates, confirmed that all major political parties have submitted their audited account by 29th August, the last date of filing. He mailed a message that reads: “Out of a total 168 registered parties, 107 have submitted consolidated statement of accounts”.

On financial transparency, he added, “We are dedicated to strengthening the ’Monitoring and evaluation wing of the ECP to check all violations of the code of conduct, Election Act 2017, Election Rules 2017 and all directives of the commission during the elections.

“A state-of-the-art election monitoring control centre (EMCC) has been established in the ECP Secretariat with improved human resources and technology support to ensure speedy redressal of any violation and complaints regarding elections and electoral process. Real time monitoring digital tools and trained district monitoring teams across the country will help control all violations during the elections.”

The top leadership of the key political parties, PPP, PML-N and PTI, were reached for comments. Only the PPP responded by openly supporting the new amendment that indirectly legalises expensive campaigns beyond specified limits.

Senator Salim Mandviwala, said to be responsible for handling financial affairs with the ECP, considered it apt. In his written response, he said: “The ECP spend limits for candidates are unrealistically low. A serious candidate needs to spend more on a winning election campaign. This amendment has provided flexibility and made the rules more pragmatic.”

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), generously shared the relevant material on the subject. Commenting on the issue, he said: “In my view, the Elections Act 2017 has created a significant loophole by allowing a candidate to claim that the spending has been made by ‘someone’ without his consent and knowledge. Earlier, under the Represen­tation of the People Act, any spending done by anyone for a candidate was deemed to be his.

“In terms of enforcement, my understanding is that the ECP is much better equipped today to monitor and check candidates’ election spending and scrutinise candidates’ and elected legislators’ statements of expenses and accounts. It has acquired the capacity to deploy technology and use digitised historical data of spending.

The ECP has established connectivity with other databases, including that of the Federal Board of Revenue. It should now be able to detect inconsistencies in reporting and take legal action against misstatement.“

Muddassir Rizvi, Director Programme, Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), when reached over the phone, hammered the need to strengthen legislation on political finance. The goal should be to trim the role of money in elections that deprive the majority of their right to contest elections.

“The Election Act 2017 does not clearly define the election expenses or legal consequences for a person funding a candidate’s election campaign,” he said. He also highlighted the need to limit political parties’ election spend.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, September 11th, 2023