Mohsin Siddiqui (Chief Reporter)

General elections scheduled for February 8, 2024, the Ministry of Finance has disbursed Rs17.4 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), as announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The Finance Division’s statement highlighted the additional Rs10 billion released in July 2023 for election preparations, bringing the total allocation to Rs27.4 billion.

Reaffirming their commitment, the Finance Division emphasized its dedication to providing necessary funds as per the Election Commission of Pakistan’s requirements.

This clarification follows a recent assurance from Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal, who pledged on Monday to release all essential funds within the next two days for the smooth conduct of general elections. Bosal, speaking at the ECP after the meeting, mentioned that the Finance Ministry had received the ECP’s request for funds on November 14, and the necessary steps were being taken promptly.

Despite the allocation of Rs42 billion in the federal budget for the current fiscal year (2023-24) for general elections, only Rs10 billion had been released to the ECP until this recent disbursement. The Finance Ministry had cited the “challenging economic situation” when communicating the difficulty in providing the required funds to the Election Commission earlier this year, in March.