Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday was informed that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja was a “good public servant” and the government should work with him instead of opting for confrontation.
The premier, while chairing a meeting of the cabinet, inquired about the response of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to the government’s electoral reforms.
Federal Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz replied that his ministry had written a letter to the ECP last week and was willing to assist the commission in any way possible.
The CEC was also praised during the meeting. Senior ministers told the premier that the CEC was a “good public servant”.
They added that the CEC wanted to work and the government should facilitate him for this purpose.
During the meeting, ministers questioned the prime minister about the progress of e-voting, adding that they were being inquired about it.
PM Imran told IT Minister AminuI Haque to update on the matter.
After the minister gave a short briefing on the issue, the ministers raised their reservations. They said they did not want to know about meetings, but a deadline on when the e-voting system would be ready.
Also read: Govt prods ECP to move fast on EVMs
The premier also sought a detailed briefing from the minister and stressed the need for stepping up the pace on e-voting.
In addition, there was an interesting dialogue between Energy Minister Hammad Azhar and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Tauseef H Farooqi on electricity bills and projects.
On alternative energy projects, Hammad said the country had plenty of electricity.
The ministers also raised questions on LPG cylinder accidents and electricity prices.
In February this year, Tauseef had said distributed generation through net-metering was one of the most effective tools to enable renewable power generation at the grass-root level and one of the key focus areas of Nepra for meeting increased electricity demands sustainably.
Addressing the launch of a research report on ‘Barriers and Drivers of Solar Prosumage: A Case Study of Pakistan’, he had added that Nepra was paving the way for clean energy and establishing a liberalised power market for its consumers.
“Nepra envisions making the power sector green by promoting renewable power generation according to the government’s goals and objectives.”
With more than 120MW installed capacity of solar prosumage so far, he had said, the consumers were already being provided with an opportunity to become producers of electricity themselves.
The Nepra chairman had added that the regulator would look into and try to benefit from the recommendations provided in the study while continuing its efforts to improve the regulatory environment for the promotion of net-metering in the country.
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