LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) senior central leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said that views of all parliamentary parties and people should be included in the formation of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
He said that before nomination of the members, their names should be publicized and that the committee should essentially have representation of all parliamentary parties, no label of a party be on any member so that such impartial and non-controversial election commission is constituted on whose conducted polls no finger is raised.
Talking to media at his residence here on Sunday along with Senator Kamil Ali Agha, MNA Tariq Bashir Cheema and Muhammad Basharat, he said that if the people concerned have to be consulted before name of a street is changed then how the voters can be ignored in the formation of the election commission. He added that the mistakes of 2013 should not be repeated.
Opposition leader should take all opposition parties along because if first brick is placed improperly then straight building cannot be raised, objections will continue to be raised on election held under the maneuvered election commission like in the past, he added.
He said that from emphasis on making former bureaucrats member of the election commission and inclusion of relative of the rigging master it is apprehended that once again rigging is being planned. He said that we had objected ahead of last general election to making own favourites in the four provinces as members of the election commission through which desired results were secured and these members continuously kept by-passing the Chief Election commissioner.
He added that if this is done again this time then next election will also be rigged election, we warn opposition leader Khursheed Shah not to repeat mistake of 2013, names of proposed members should firstly be placed before the media and the people so that nobody raises finger on their ‘amanat, diyanat aur sadaqat’.
He suggested that the opposition leader should include parliamentary representatives of all parties in the committee because there is no representation of Jamat-e-Islami and Awami Muslim League either, so that it does not happen that people cast vote at some place and these are counted somewhere else. Replying to a question, he said that Khursheed Shah is the unanimous opposition leader.
