The PPP has cried foul over the PML-N led Punjab government's decision to transfer Sialkot deputy commissioner (DC) despite issuance of the schedule for a by-election at PP-52, Sialkot-IX constituency on June 1. The PPP has declared the move pre-poll rigging.
The government earlier in the day relieved Syed Hasan Raza from his additional charge as the DC Sialkot and assigned the post to Chief (Environment & Climate Change), Planning & Development Board, Saba Asghar Ali, a BS-19 officer.
Interestingly, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued two notifications on April 18one regarding the schedule for by-election at PP-52 and the second banning any transfer or posting in this constituency till after the election.
The said notification said that no government or authority shall post or transfer any officer in the district till the publication of name of returned candidate. "No government functionary or elected representative(s) including a local government functionary or elected representative shall announce any development scheme for the constituency, where bye-election is under process till 1st June, 2025," it said.
Protesting the move, the PPP candidate from PP-52 — Raheel Kamran Chema said PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has a history of using state machinery for political gains. The PML-N has used state machinery to transfer the DC Sialkot and appoint a new officer, he claimed.
He said despite a ban imposed by the ECP, the government has brought in a new officer. He called it a shameful act and vowed to challenge it on every legal and democratic forum.
Cheema also urged the ECP to immediately revoke the notification regarding the transfer of DC Sialkot.
PPP General Secretary Hasan Murtaza also questioned how the DC was changed despite issuance of the election schedule, adding that this was sheer pre-poll rigging.
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