Meeting on poll reforms soon: Chief Election Commissioner

ECP chief says commission would ensure complete transparency in next general election

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that a meeting of all political parties will be called soon on poll reforms.

This was stated by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja in a communiqué issued after a meeting with a delegation of joint parliamentary opposition on Tuesday.

The delegation comprised PML-N leaders Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Khurram Dastagir, Attaullah Tarar, PPP leader Farhatullah Babar and JUI-F Salahuddin Ayubi.

The CEC observed that a meeting of all political parties will be called soon to seek their recommendations for making the poll process completely transparent.

The delegation on behalf of the opposition assured the CEC of complete cooperation and expressed hope that the ECP would fulfill its duty properly in holding the next election in an impartial and transparent manner.

Raja thanked the opposition and the government members for reposing trust in him for appointing him as the CEC and said the ECP would ensure holding free and fair election without succumbing to any pressure.

Meanwhile, the delegation requested the CEC to conduct the hearing of foreign funding case pertaining to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on a daily basis.

The delegation submitted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) stating that the foreign funding case had been continuing for the past several years, while there had been no development on it.

It said that the government was running through a stay order and was resorting to delaying tactics.

The delegation asked the commission to collect the details of foreign funding for the years after 2015 also.

The CEC said that there would be no delay in furthering the case as soon as the scrutiny committee report is received.

Foreign Funding Case

Dissident founding member of the PTI Babar had filed the foreign funding case before the ECP in 2014 after he developed differences with PTI Chairman Imran Khan over alleged internal corruption and abuse of laws governing political funding.

For over a year, the proceedings of the case were delayed in the ECP as the PTI had filed a writ petition in October 2015 in the Islamabad High Court seeking to restrain the ECP from scrutinising its accounts.

In February 2017, the IHC had remanded the case back to the ECP for a fresh review of its jurisdiction.

On May 8 of the same year, a full bench of the ECP had once again declared its complete jurisdiction over the matter and stated that the PTI had failed to produce any evidence that the petitioner had been expelled from the party and hence lost the right to question the PTI's accounts.

In March 2018, a scrutiny committee was formed to look into PTI foreign funding accounts to ascertain any wrongdoing.