By-elections: ECP decision on troop deployment welcomed

PPP leader demands troops for local govt elections as well

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) central Punjab president Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo on Tuesday welcomed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to deploy army personnel during the upcoming by-election in Lahore.

He was talking to reporters at the residence of PPP Punjab vice president Sohail Malik. Wattoo was there to condole the death of Malik’s mother.

He demanded that troops also be deployed in the forthcoming local elections across the Punjab.

Referring to the economic package announced by the PM for farmers, he said that the ECP was expected to decide the issue in a manner that it would not affect the outcome of the local elections.

He said that ruling party MNAs and MPAs were starting development projects ahead of the local elections. “This is pre-poll rigging because the election schedule has been announced,” he said.

He reiterated his demand that senior civil judges, additional sessions judges or session judges should be appointed returning officers to ensure the impartiality and transparency of local elections.

“It is not possible to hold free and fair elections under the supervision of the bureaucracy because it is highly politicised. It has always served its masters at the expense of the electoral process,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2015.