ECP summons Fawad on Oct 27

Minister had alleged CEC was acting as ‘mouthpiece for opposition parties’

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on October 27 (Wednesday) over his allegations against it and the chief election commissioner (CEC).

According to a notice issued by the ECP, the federal minister has been directed to appear in person or through his counsel.

Last month, the commission had given three more weeks to the federal information minister and Railways Minister Azam Swati to submit their response to the notices served on them earlier seeking evidence of their allegations against the polls supervisory body expired.

In case of non-compliance, the commission had warned that it would take action against them under the Election Act.

It further warned that it might initiate contempt proceedings against the ministers.

Fawad had sought more time from the ECP to submit his reply while Swati opted to ignore the notice.

In September, Swati, during a Senate committee meeting, had accused the ECP of taking bribes to rig elections and said such institutions should be “set on fire”.

Later in the day, Fawad had accused the CEC of acting as a “mouthpiece for the opposition parties”.

Their comments came in the wake of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs after one-sided voting by opposition members rejecting key amendments to the Elections Act.

They included allowing e-voting, holding open Senate elections, giving Pakistanis living abroad the right to vote via the internet and parliamentarians vacating their seats if they did not take oath within 60 days.

This came as a major blow to the government’s plan to move ahead with the next elections using electronic voting machines (EVMs) and e-voting.

The commission had rejected the allegations levelled against it by the ministers, demanding that they should produce evidence to back their claims.

After a meeting of ECP officials presided over by CEC Sikander Sultan Raja, the body had said it “objected to and rejected” the allegations against itself and its chief.

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It added that evidence would be demanded from Swati for the comments he had made about the ECP in the standing committee meeting.

“The election commission has decided to issue notices to both ministers so further proceedings can be brought into effect regarding this matter,” it read.

Section 10 of the Elections Act, 2017 that deals with ECP’s power to punish for contempt read: “The Commission may exercise the same power as the High Court to punish any person for contempt of court and the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 (V of 2003), or any other law pertaining to contempt of court shall have effect accordingly as if reference therein to a ‘court’ and to a ‘judge’ were a reference, respectively, to the ‘Commission’ and the ‘Commissioner’ or, as the case may be, a member of the Commission.”