Pre-poll rigging?: Vote body summons K-P chief secretary over complaints

Insists chief election commissioner and ECP not represented on social media

ISLAMABAD:

The election authorities have summoned the chief secretary of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on May 14 to present the provincial government’s point of view over pre-poll rigging complaints ahead of the local government elections.

On Monday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) served notice to the top bureaucrat of the province on the complaint of a local leader of the Awami National Party (ANP).

In his complaint, Rozi Khan, the ANP’s information secretary in Mardan district, said that the provincial government had sanctioned Rs80 million in his area for different development projects in an effort to influence the voters.



The local government elections are due in K-P on May 30.

Under the ECP code of conduct, no development scheme can be announced once the election schedule is announced. “You (the chief secretary) are required to explain as to why the amounts (Rs80 million) are sanctioned in violation of the code of conduct on 24-4-2015 after the election schedule. Why should it not be treated as pre-poll rigging? And if so why should action not be taken against K-P?” the ECP said in its notification.

It asked the chief secretary to appear on May 14 to explain the K-P government’s position.

Meanwhile, the ECP clarified that Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza does not have any personal or official social media account on Facebook, Twitter and other such services. Similarly, the ECP said it does not have any social media account of its own, the commission said in its statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2015.