The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to send a legal notice to the railway federal minister Azam Khan Swati and Federal Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry in response to its smearing remarks about the electoral authority for its opposition to the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the forthcoming general election.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired the meeting of ECP officials held in Islamabad on Tuesday (14 September). The Chief of the Election Commission was briefed in detail about the incident that took place in the Senate standing committee last week.
Participants at the ECP meeting agreed that the railroad’s minister would be required to show documentation to back up his allegations that ECP took bribes. According to ECP authorities, the action against the ministers will be taken to its natural conclusion.
PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) has been asked to release the complete footage of the federal ministers’ conference at the Press Information Department on Friday. The minister leveled significant charges against the ECP.
The commission is also determined to obtain information about the meetings held at the President’s House.
According to the views of Azam Khan Swati, ECP should be set on fire. He said that
Azam Swati, during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, stated that the ECP was the source of the country’s democratic ruin and that such institutions should be destroyed.
The ECP officials present in the meeting walked out in protest.
Swati, Fawad Chaudhry, and the Prime Minister’s Advisor for Parliamentary Affairs, Babar Awan, later attended a press conference at the Press Information Department in Islamabad.
As per Fawad Chaudhry’s comments, the Chairman of the Election Commission should resign if he is so fond of politics.
EVM fiasco
The ECP has rejected the use of EVMs in the upcoming general election, claiming that they will not prevent rigging or ensure the prompt release of results. The ECP filed 37 complaints in a report to the Senate’s standing committee on parliamentary issues.
According to ECP, the EVMs which according to the information minister have been improved by the government in the span of 2 years are hackable.
The commission stated that additional time was required before implementing EVMs because the next general election was only two years away.
