Hoti draws ECP’s attention to govt interference in electioneering

Says official resources and machinery being used to influence voters

SWABI: Expressing resentment over the alleged utilisation of official resources in ongoing electioneering for local government (LG) polls, ANP K-P President Amir Haider Hoti has urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the matter and fulfil its duty. 

“Provincial ministers, advisers to the chief minister and lawmakers from treasury benches are influencing the electioneering process which is against the rules and regulations framed by ECP,” said Hoti on Sunday. He was addressing party workers and leaders at Haji Hidayatullah’s hujra in Panjpir, Swabi.

The meeting was convened in connection with electioneering for the upcoming polls and party leaders spoke to Hoti at length about several elected representatives’ alleged involvement in the process in order to garner support for their favoured candidates.

Hoti was told that CM’s advisers, lawmakers, ministers and even the assembly speaker were announcing development projects worth millions of rupees and reportedly offering perks and privileges to members of other political parties to join Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or its coalition partners.

The provincial chief said that while he was governing the province he respected the ECP’s rules and never indulged in influencing by-elections held in any district. Hoti served as the 25th chief minister of K-P from 2008 to 2013.

“The silence on the part of ECP is ironic,” he said, urging the poll body to step up and take note of government functionaries interfering in electioneering both in K-P and across the country.

He added that if ECP fails to fulfil its responsibility of holding free and fair elections, ANP’s workers were more than capable of foiling rigging attempts.

Lashing out at the PTI-led provincial government, the former CM expressed disappointment over the party’s performance. “Imran Khan and his aides have done nothing for the betterment of the province and its people. Instead they remained busy in the sit-in in the federal capital,” said Hoti.

He also cast doubts over PTI’s role in changes to the China-Pak Economic Corridor saying, “It seems PTI and PML-N’s leadership is united in the economic assassination of Pukhtuns.”

The ANP leader criticised the PTI-led government for failing to safeguard the province’s interests on forums such as National Finance Commission and Council of Common Interests.

Other ANP leaders who spoke on the occasion shed light on their contribution in Swabi’s development and addressing demands of its residents. They said the previous ANP government established a university, a medical college for men and women and also constructed roads across the district.

ANP K-P General Secretary Aimal Wali Khan and ANP Swabi office bearers, Acting President Sheheryar Khan, General Secretary Mohammad Islam and Haji Hidayatullah Khan addressed the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2015.