PTI calls for Pakistan Army, Rangers’ oversight of cantonment polls

Urges ECP to announce date for long-pending LG elections

KARACHI:

As political parties prepare for the upcoming cantonment board elections in Sindh, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Khurram Sher Zaman has submitted a request before the Election Commission of Pakistan to deploy the Pakistan Army and Rangers personnel during the polls.

During his meeting with Provincial Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan at his office on Monday, Zaman said that the Pakistan Army and its paramilitary force should make arrangements to ensure transparent elections.

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"We do not want the cantonment elections to be rigged," he told the media after the meeting.

Zaman, who is also the president of PTI Karachi, said that they wanted to avoid fake votes, casted under influence or fraudulently and hence the request.

He said that he had also urged the ECP officer to announce a date for the long-pending local government elections in the province.

Karachi cannot bear rigged elections as has been tried in the past, said Zaman, requesting the ECP to ensure transparent polls. He claimed that development works at the cost of Rs9.9b were carried out in the metropolis under the prime minister's special fund and alleged that money for the city went to Dubai accounts for 13 years.

In reply to a question, Zaman said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz stalwart Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif looked worried for Karachi and that shows that the Pakistan Peoples Party, which leads the Sindh government, has done nothing.

Upcoming polls

The Sindh cantonment boards' elections are slated to be held on a party basis on September 12.

Across the province, there are eight cantonment boards, one each in Hyderabad and Pano Aqil and six in Karachi.

Among the major political parties, PPP, PTI, PML-N, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) will be contesting the polls.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2021.