ECP summons Swati — this time for violating LG poll rules

PESHAWAR:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned Federal Minister Azam Swati for violating rules during the local body elections.

He has been called to explain his stance for running an election campaign for a Mansehra Tehsil candidate.

On the other hand, the ECP also imposed a fine of Rs30,000 on PTI candidate Malik Idrees. According to Express News, the election commission has declared Idrees, a candidate from Dasu Tehsil Council in Dasu area of K-P, as a violator of the electoral code of conduct.

The ECP accused idrees of campaigning on Facebook to provide a solar system and other benefits to voters, against which various candidates had complained to the district monitoring officer.

An ECP spokesperson said the Upper Kohistan DMO Muhammad Imran has also been instructed to be careful in the future after imposing a fine on PTI candidates.

In K-P, the first phase of local body elections has been completed while elections for the second phase will be held later in March.

It may be recalled that the spokesperson of the election commission said that no concession would be made to any candidate who has violated the code of conduct.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2022.