ISLAMABAD: The government has allocated around Rs44 billion in the next fiscal year’s federal budget for the upcoming general election – exected to be held in October or November this year.
It has also reserved an amount of Rs15 billion for the security of the elections.
A sum of over Rs5.60 billion have been reserved for voting and the project management unit.
More than Rs4.83 billion have been allocated for the printing of ballot papers. Likewise, a sum of 270 million rupees has been reserved for the printing of polls lists. The government has also allocated 1.79 billion rupees for the polling training wing.
A sum of more than 500 million rupees has been reserved for media coordination. It has also allocated an amount of over 1.2 billion rupees in the upcoming budget for poll preparations.
Budget for provincial polls
For the provinces, the federal government has reserved an amount of nearly 9.65 billion rupees in the budget for the polls in Punjab.
It has allocated a sum of about 3.95 billion rupees for the elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The centre has allocated nearly 3.65 billion rupees for the polls in Sindh. More than 1.11 billion rupees of amount has been reserved for the elections in Balochistan.
It is to be noted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had proposed an allocation of 54 billion rupees for holding the polls in the entire country. However, the government has assured the electoral body that it would provide it with an amount of 47 billion rupees for conducting the elections. The centre has already released 5 billion rupees to the ECP for the polls.
