ECP terms charges by Imran, other PTI leaders baseless

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Sunday reacted strongly to statements of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and other leaders, including Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Omar Ayub, Farrukh Habib, etc., and termed them completely baseless and misleading.

A spokesperson for the ECP said the allegations had nothing to do with reality. “The Election Commission of Pakistan is committed to conducting free, fair and transparent elections. If any person tries to influence the election process, he will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law,” Haroon Shinwari said.

He said the overall atmosphere of by-polls in eight National Assembly and three Punjab Assembly constituencies remained peaceful. The ECP Central Control Room received only 15 complaints and most of them were related to clashes between workers of different parties, which were resolved promptly.

Separately, the Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab banned the entry of Special Branch officials into polling stations in six districts. It imposed the ban on the complaints of illegal and unauthorised entry of current and former officers of the Special Branch into the polling stations.

A formal order of the provincial election commissioner has also been issued and sent to the Additional IGP (Special Branch) Punjab. The ban has been imposed under Section 187 of the Election Act, 2017. Strict action can be taken against officers and officials who misuse their position during elections, the order said. He said the purpose of taking the step was to stop any attempt to influence the election process.

According to the Election Commission, during polling, very encouraging women’s interest in elections and participation was witnessed and a large number of women reached the polling stations to vote. There are 2,027,733 women registered voters in 11 constituencies.

The ECP spokesperson separately said, “The baseless allegation of favouritism by the PTI leaders on the commission amounts to damaging the democratic process. “The allegation of PTI’s vote being diverted from constituencies is ridiculous. How can the voter list know who will vote for whom? This allegation is completely baseless and false,” he said.

He pointed out that voter lists are compiled under a transparent and error-free process, of which the public is informed at every stage and by-elections were being held on the voter lists of 2018. Therefore, the objection to the voters list is grossly misplaced and misrepresentation.

According to the Election Commission, the scheduled time for the end of polling is 5pm; however, after that people present inside the polling station will be allowed to vote. As per the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission, the media was urged not to broadcast the results of the polling till 6pm, an hour after the end of polling process.

Likewise, until the final results are declared by the returning officers, these results will be considered inconclusive. Meanwhile, the district monitoring officer, Faisalabad, took action against the media briefing of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah. “Holding a press conference by public officials in the constituency limits on the polling day is a violation of the code of conduct. Federal Minister Rana Sanaullah has been ordered to be immediately removed from the limits of the constituency,” the DMO said in a statement. On Oct 15, the DMO had issued a notice to Rana Sana for violating the code of conduct.