LAHORE: The Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has rejected the appointment of new chief election commissioner saying the step will not serve the purpose of overhauling the electoral system.

“With the appointment of new CEC, the election system will not change. What needs to be done is to overhaul and reform the whole electoral system,” a statement issued here on Friday quoted Dr Tahirul Qadri as saying.

Referring to equal powers of the CEC and the four members of the commission, he said with the presence of four old members the fifth member would not be able to do anything worthwhile.

Dr Qadri, who is in a Houston hospital undergoing tests for angiography, said the rulers did not want to change the status quo and keep trying to bring in new faces. He said the new faces would fail to bring about any changes in the corrupt election mechanism unless the whole system was revamped.

He expressed his dismay at the police brutality on the visually-challenged protesters.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2014