PPP backs Imran's call for ECP members to resign

PPP hints that it may boycott upcoming by-polls unless the four ECP members resign

ISLAMABAD: Pressure on members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has mounted after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Saturday announced that it will not take part in any by-elections unless the existing commission is revamped.

The announcement means that the PPP has thrown its weight behind Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s call for four members of the commission to quit and for the commission to be reformed.

Imran had called for the resignation of four senior members of the ECP after a judicial inquiry commission last month released a report into rigging during the May 2013 general elections.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah had said that this party shares the PTI’s views on the matter. On Saturday, however, the PPP went a step further, hinting that it may end up boycott upcoming by- elections unless the incumbent commission resigns.

Talking to media outside Zardari House, PPP leaders Sherry Rehman, Latif Khosa and Manzoor Wattoo said transparency demands that the ECP members representing federating units should resign and that a new commission should be constituted.

“We had accepted the results (of 2013 general elections) for continuity of the system. But after due deliberations, we think that ECP members should resign. If they continue to hold their offices, it will be difficult for the PPP to participate in any by-polls,” said PPP vice president Rehman.

Former Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa reiterated that the ECP’s prime function was to ensure transparency in elections. But, it had failed to do so.

Noting that while his party had reservations over the final outcome of the judicial commission’s probe, the report had pointed out glaring shortcomings of the ECP. A view, he said, had been strengthened through subsequent verdicts by election tribunals on individual seats.

He pointed out that while the chief election commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim had resigned after the elections, the members had continued.

PPP Punjab chapter president Wattoo announced that the party will no longer pursue the policy of reconciliation with ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), a policy oft repeated and championed by the PPP’s co chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Wattoo added that workers had complained to the PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari that the policy had made the party’s attitude docile, damaging its credibility.

The PTI chief had on Saturday announced that he will stage a sit-in in front of ECP headquarters on October 4 if the four members did not resign.