ISLAMABAD: A meeting called to grant voting right to overseas Pakistanis could not be completed as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) secretary walked out in protest following allegations levelled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the commission.
The situation became unpleasant in the meeting of the sub-committee of the electoral reforms committee when PTI’s Dr Shireen Mazari questioned the official of the ECP why the commission had not consulted members over the appointments of provincial election commissioners in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. She added that the way the appointments were being made would pave the way for rigging in the upcoming elections. To this, the ECP secretary while expressing his annoyance retorted that the PTI always levels allegations against the ECP in its every meeting. Convener of the meeting, Zahid Hamid, told the newsmen that appointments of provincial election commissioners was an internal matter of the ECP, which could not be debated upon in the meeting of the committee.
On the other hand, PTI members Dr Shireen Mazari, Dr Arif Alvi and Senator Shibli Faraz, while expressing regret over the attitude of the ECP secretary, said that parliamentarians had the right to ask questions pertaining to the ECP but the attitude adopted by the official was not congenial.
