ISLAMABAD, MAR 5 – A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allowing “foul play” in the recent Senate elections, the commission issued a statement rejecting the “discussion and unhappiness” over the way polls for the upper house of parliament were conducted.

“It is a shocking matter that under the same staff in the same [election] under the same roof on the same day, [what they won] is acceptable and [what they lost] is unacceptable. Is this not open contradiction?” the commission questioned, adding: “The ECP rejects this.”

The statement came after a meeting of the ECP was held to discuss the rem­arks made by the prime minister during an address to the nation yesterday where he explained the political situation in the country that emerged after Wednesday’s Senate elections in which the opposition managed to stage an upset.

During his address, the premier called out the electoral body for “protecting those who made money by holding the Senate elections through secret ballot”.

In its statement, the ECP said: “This is democracy and free elections and the beauty of free elections which the entire nation saw and which is mandated by the Constitution.”

Every political party should have the courage to accept its defeat, it said.

The ECP said the Senate elections were held according to the law and the Constitution and were conducted in a “good way”. It said the statements and discussions that had come to the electoral body through media reports were “saddening” especially statements made by “some members of the federal cabinet and specifically what the prime minister said in his address yesterday”.

The ECP iterated that it was a constitutional and independent institution. “[The ECP] has to see what the law and the Constitution allow and what the standard has to be. We cannot ignore the law and the Constitution or bring an amendment for anyone’s favour,” it added.

If someone has objections to the body’s decisions or orders, it could take the constitutional way but let the institution work independently, the statement said.

“We have neither come under pressure from anybody and neither will we [do so in the future].”

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to chair a joint parliamentary party meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allied parties today (Friday).

The joint parliamentary party meeting of PTI and its coalition partners will be held at 4:00 pm at the Parliament House.According to the sources, PM Imran Khan will take parliamentary party members into confidence regarding the current political situation arising after the Senate elections.

The premier will also brief the participants about purpose of obtaining the vote of confidence from the parliament.

Sources also said that PM Khan has directed party MNAs to stay in Islamabad until the session of NA summoned for vote confidence on Saturday.

It is to be noted that President Arif Alvi has summoned the session of the lower house on Saturday after PM Imran Khan announced to take vote of confidence.

According to a notification issued by the NA secretariat, the session had been summoned session for purpose of requiring the prime minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the National Assembly under Article 91(7) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Islamabad : Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed the determination to continue his struggle for rule of law and purging the country of corruption.

Addressing the nation on Radio and Television, he described the opposition parties’ use of undemocratic tactics to get Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani elected on a Senate seat in a move to pressurize him.

The Prime Minister announced that he is going to take a vote of confidence from the National Assembly tomorrow.

He said as voting on the confidence motion will be open, even the Members belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf can vote against him and if they do not support him, he will go to the opposition benches.

Imran Khan expressed his conviction that Pakistan is bound to emerge as a great nation in accordance with the dreams of its founding fathers.

He said if there was an open ballot, the PTI’s candidate would have been elected on general seat from the Federal Capital.

Imran Khan regretted that despite agreeing on the holding of Senate elections through open ballot in the Charter of Democracy, Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz opposed the idea to pave the way for corruption.

The Prime Minister also regretted that the Election Commission of Pakistan, which was responsible for transparent Senate elections, also favoured secret ballot during the Supreme Court proceedings.

He said the corrupt leaders made billions of rupees through commissions and kickbacks in major power and other development projects, and stashed the same abroad, putting the country under heavy debt.

Lahore : Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has said that Pakistan Navy is the most professional, strong and time tested naval force of the region and the nation is proud of Navy’s achievements.

Talking to a delegation of Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore, he said Pakistan Navy is successfully tackling the maritime challenges.

The Governor said Pakistan Navy is playing a crucial role in achieving national economic interests by defending the country’s maritime boundaries as well as providing security at Gwadar Port and CPEC sea routes.

ISLAMABAD : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned an important meeting today (Friday) to discuss the allegations leveled by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan during his address to the nation.

The meeting will be chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. The meeting will allegations of horse-trading leveled by PM Imran Khan and the federal ministers.On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi along with his cabinet fellows, Shibli Faraz and Fawad Chaudhry had lamented that the ECP was responsible to hold free and fair polls, however, it failed in performing its duty.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had raised questions over the performance of the Election Commission of Commission (ECP) for not taking action against individuals “buying” votes for their candidates in recently held Senate polls 2021.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had said this while addressing the nation, a day after he had decided to take a vote of confidence following the ruling party suffered a setback when its candidate Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh lost a Senate seat from Islamabad to a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani.

ISLAMABAD : Plea challenging former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s victory as a senator has been filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday.

Advocate Azhar Siddique filed the plea with the ECP has stated that the election of Gilani was rigged and the action should be taken against Maryam Nawaz and Ali Haider Gilani over their confession of rigging the poll.

“Despite clear directions from the Supreme Court, no technology was used by the ECP to ensure transparency of the polls,” Siddique said in his plea.
The case should be filed against Maryam Nawaz and Gilani’s son over violating Election Act and inquiry should be initiated over Gilani’s victory in the Senate in light of Ali Haider’s video and Maryam Nawaz’s statement.

The applicant has urged the ECP not to issue victory notification of Gilani as a senator.

The former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwart Yousuf Raza Gilani won his senate seat from Islamabad where he was vying against Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf’s (PTI) Hafeez Shaikh for which the polling was conducted in the National Assembly.