Internal party scrutiny
THE traditionally we hear stories that corrupt politician running after power by making exaggerated fake pledges, but over the last few years, there have been stark revelations how they indulge in various unethical practices.
Such practices are used not only to mint money while in office but to get elected. Hundreds of them were discovered to have fake academic degrees, dodged taxes, avoided paying utility bills and hidden dual nationalities. Invariably, the embarrassing discovery was made either by the judiciary, the National Accountability Bureau or the media. Under such circumstances, the lead taken by the PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif in matters of internal scrutiny of all ticket seekers should be followed by other parties.
The “no corruption” promises by over 3,000 PML-N ticket aspirants will make little consequence. Politicians make many promises only to ignore them when they elected. What is good precedent set by the PML-N that it will itself probe the credentials of all candidates. This should serve to save the party and the candidates themselves from embarrassment.
The new nomination form designed by the Election Commission of Pakistan is comprehensive and seeks details to ensure that a candidate contesting polls conforms to its eligibility criteria. The new form has drawn flak, with many politicians objecting to the ECP’s plan to know details which they say are not relevant and fall within the jurisdiction of other state institutions. While it is certainly true that some of the information the ECP requires is unnecessary and intrusive but the candidates who says nothing to hide should have no reason to fear such scrutiny. Here we should let internal scrutiny system prove useful. Let us accept: the PML-N ‘ticket aspirants’ are powerful people. Their list is long. The PML-N has been a ruling party and quite a few of its members have been involved in trouble of all sorts. Will the leadership of the PML-N refuse tickets to them? Party candidates may make number of pledges because they wouldn’t get tickets otherwise, but their record in office speaks louder than their words. It is need of the hour that political parties themselves reject those with dubious credentials instead of leaving it to the ECP, or any other authority, in order to herald their disqualification by going public with details of fraud and criminality.