Govt demands ECP resign en masse

Other political parties have also lost confidence in the ECP, says Shafqat

ISLAMABAD:

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday demanded resignation of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), while accusing the polls supervisor of its “complete failure” in holding transparent Senate elections and hence losing the government’s trust.

Friction between the government and the commission surfaced when the latter insisted in the Supreme Court that the Senate election should be held through secret ballot, taking an opposing stance to government’s efforts to hold the election through open ballot.

Later, the election was held through secret balloting on March 3. In the election, the PTI’s Hafeez Sheikh lost to the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Yousuf Raza Gilani on general seat of Islamabad. The PTI is also not happy with the ECP following re-polls order in Daska.

On Monday, three federal ministers addressed a joint news conference in the federal capital, demanding resignation from the ECP and the setting up of a new election oversight that could be trusted by everyone.

“To ensure transparent elections is the responsibility of the election commission. This responsibility was not fulfilled,” Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood told the presser, flanked by Information Minister Shibli Faraz and Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

The election commission should resign as a whole,” the minister said. “Create a new election commission that everyone can trust. Let us all work together to ensure that the next elections are transparent,” he added.

“The situation today is that not a political party is satisfied with the Senate election. All these things support the position of Imran Khan [about open balloting],” he said.

Read: Federal ministers urge ECP to prove it was impartial in Senate polls

 “No one has confidence in the commission. We, as the ruling party, have no confidence in the election commission.”

Mahmood said that since the Senate elections are held, there has always been talk of buying and selling of votes; therefore, Prime Minister Imran Khan has demanded open balloting. “Imran Khan wants transparency… by eliminating the role of money from politics.”

The minister elaborated that the government went to the Supreme Court. He added that the apex court ruled that a constitutional amendment was necessary for this purpose but stressed that the election commission must fulfil its responsibility for holding transparent election.

“Our delegation went to the election commission in the light of the Supreme Court decision and we have requested the election commission to make such ballot papers which could be challenged, when required,” he said. “We also brought a constitutional amendment bill in parliament.”

‘Neutral umpire’

The minister also referred to a video scandal in which Gilani’s son was purportedly seen giving instructions to two National Assembly members about wasting votes. “In the video, everyone saw how an attempt was made to buy votes,” Mahmood said.

“Imran Khan brought neutral umpires in cricket. Same as election commission should also be neutral. But unfortunately, the current election commission is not neutral,” he said, adding that the way to forward was to have an election commission that is trusted by all the political parties.

Responding to a question, whether the government would send a reference in the Supreme judicial Council (SJC) against the ECP, the education minister replied that the government, at present, has no such intention.

At the presser, the minister condemned an attack on Shahbaz Gill, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant on political communication, outside the Lahore High Court (LHC). They blamed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for instigating the attack.

“A disappointing incident took place today … We condemn this attack,” Mahmood said, referring to the incident in which a woman threw ink and eggs at Gill, while he was entering the court premises to attend proceedings of a case.

“When matters go according to the wishes of the PML-N, everything is fine; however, when things go against them, the party decides to attack,” the minister said, accusing the PML-N of being behind the attack.