PTM not a registered party: ECP
Senate body apprised of plan for July 20 election in merged areas of K-P
Manzoor Pashteen addresses a PTM rally. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) is not a registered political party and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not received any of its requests regarding elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), the ECP informed the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday.
The committee’s session, with Senator Sassui Palijo in the chair, was briefed by ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob regarding preparations for elections in the areas of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas that were merged into K-P.
The elections – on 16 general seats and five reserved seats, including four for women and one minority seat – were initially supposed to be held on July 2 but were delayed due to security reasons. They are now scheduled for July 20.
Petition against PTM heard in IHC
During the session, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said that there had been little interest in the media despite it being the first election in the tribal districts since their merger. “But it seems that we are not having any polls at all. As such, we cannot term these elections transparent.”
He contended that the PTM was being barred from media coverage while also highlighting that two of its representatives had been arrested.
Upon this, the ECP secretary said that PTM wasn’t a registered political party neither had it submitted any query nor filed any complaints with the commission regarding the election.
It is pertinent to note that the two leaders in question, Members of National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, had been elected as independents.
The ECP secretary also apprised of the arrangements for the election including the publication of the list of candidates. As many as 2.8 million voters would exercise their right in the election. Of those, 1.67 million voters are male and 1.13 million female, he added.
The secretary said that 313 of 458 candidates would contest in the election as 133 have withdrawn their nomination papers. He said that 1,896 polling stations, including 1,039 joint, 482 for men and 366 for women, have been equipped with closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Some 464 stations have been termed sensitive while the army would be deployed inside all such polling stations, he told the panel.
Petition seeks disqualification of Dawar, Wazir as MNAs
He said that result transmission system (RTS) will not be implementable in 80 per cent of areas therefore the results will be delivered through result management system.
As per law, the result should be announced latest by 2pm on the day following the polls.
He added that there was no restriction on local and international media to monitor the polling and that all related staff had been given adequate training.
State minister Ali Muhammad Khan maintained that the imposition of curfew reflected that there are security concerns. “As such, we should not compare this area with any peaceful region.”]
A seat in FATA is vacant for five years due to security threats, the ECP secretary pointed out while adding that polling conducted there had been free and fair as verified by international monitors.
Senator Rashid asked the ECP secretary to desist from expressing opinion on the issue while pointing out that there had been multiple videos of election code violation.
Senator Mussadiq Malik said that the interior ministry's restriction on 3G services could be lifted for 12 hours between 5pm and 5am on the day of polling to facilitate the process. The results would be ascertained as soon as the counting process is complete.
Senator Gayan Chand said that the by-election in Ghotki had been delayed for five days, raising concerns regarding its fairness.
The ECP official replied that a high court ordered the elections on July 16 and elections had to be held on July 17. “Around 400,000 ballot papers could not be printed and distributed to 300 polling stations in a single day,” he said.
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) is not a registered political party and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not received any of its requests regarding elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), the ECP informed the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday.
The committee’s session, with Senator Sassui Palijo in the chair, was briefed by ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob regarding preparations for elections in the areas of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas that were merged into K-P.
The elections – on 16 general seats and five reserved seats, including four for women and one minority seat – were initially supposed to be held on July 2 but were delayed due to security reasons. They are now scheduled for July 20.
Petition against PTM heard in IHC
During the session, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said that there had been little interest in the media despite it being the first election in the tribal districts since their merger. “But it seems that we are not having any polls at all. As such, we cannot term these elections transparent.”
He contended that the PTM was being barred from media coverage while also highlighting that two of its representatives had been arrested.
Upon this, the ECP secretary said that PTM wasn’t a registered political party neither had it submitted any query nor filed any complaints with the commission regarding the election.
It is pertinent to note that the two leaders in question, Members of National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, had been elected as independents.
The ECP secretary also apprised of the arrangements for the election including the publication of the list of candidates. As many as 2.8 million voters would exercise their right in the election. Of those, 1.67 million voters are male and 1.13 million female, he added.
The secretary said that 313 of 458 candidates would contest in the election as 133 have withdrawn their nomination papers. He said that 1,896 polling stations, including 1,039 joint, 482 for men and 366 for women, have been equipped with closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Some 464 stations have been termed sensitive while the army would be deployed inside all such polling stations, he told the panel.
Petition seeks disqualification of Dawar, Wazir as MNAs
He said that result transmission system (RTS) will not be implementable in 80 per cent of areas therefore the results will be delivered through result management system.
As per law, the result should be announced latest by 2pm on the day following the polls.
He added that there was no restriction on local and international media to monitor the polling and that all related staff had been given adequate training.
State minister Ali Muhammad Khan maintained that the imposition of curfew reflected that there are security concerns. “As such, we should not compare this area with any peaceful region.”]
A seat in FATA is vacant for five years due to security threats, the ECP secretary pointed out while adding that polling conducted there had been free and fair as verified by international monitors.
Senator Rashid asked the ECP secretary to desist from expressing opinion on the issue while pointing out that there had been multiple videos of election code violation.
Senator Mussadiq Malik said that the interior ministry's restriction on 3G services could be lifted for 12 hours between 5pm and 5am on the day of polling to facilitate the process. The results would be ascertained as soon as the counting process is complete.
Senator Gayan Chand said that the by-election in Ghotki had been delayed for five days, raising concerns regarding its fairness.
The ECP official replied that a high court ordered the elections on July 16 and elections had to be held on July 17. “Around 400,000 ballot papers could not be printed and distributed to 300 polling stations in a single day,” he said.