PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday disposed of a notice issued to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser for allegedly violating its code of conduct for the upcoming local body elections in the province.

The development came after the counsel for Mr Qaiser told ECP district monitoring officer for Swabi Sardar Mazhar Hussain during a hearing that the audio clip of his client’s conversation regarding development schemes was recorded before the issuance of the schedule for the Dec 19 LG polls.

The DMO had issued notice to the NA speaker on Dec 11 after the audio clip went viral on social media. In the clip, Mr Qaiser was heard asking the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders and workers in Swabi that tenders of development schemes to the tune of Rs2.5 billion would be soon released as the work orders had already been approved. He also said victory in the tehsil chairman election was of the utmost importance for the ruling party and the defeat would deal a blow to it.

Asad’s counsel Mohammad Ali told the DMO that the conversation, which went viral on social media and was telecast by some TV channels, was an old one and it was not recorded during the ongoing campaign for the local body elections.

Fines provincial minister for attending election meeting in Bajaur

He said his client didn’t violate the code of conduct of the upcoming local body elections in the district and therefore, the notice issued to him should be disposed of without further proceedings.

The DMO accepted his request and disposed of the matter.

Also in the day, Bajaur DMO Fazal Hakeem imposed a fine of Rs30,000 on provincial minister for social welfare Anwar Zeb Khan for violating the election code of conduct.

He had taken notice of the minister attending a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s workers on Dec 9. The act was against the code of conduct issued for the Dec 19 elections in the district.

The DMP directed the minister to deposit fine by Dec 18 (Saturday) and warned him not to violate the polls code again.

Meanwhile, Bannu DMO Inayatullah Khan Wazir issued the final notice to MNA Zahid Khan Durrani of the opposition Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl for non-depositing Rs50,000 fine imposed on Dec 10 for violating the election code of conduct.

He directed the lawmaker to deposit the fine by Dec 17 (Friday) noon and warned if that didn’t happen, he would refer the matter to the ECP for necessary proceedings against Mr Durrani, including the public office disqualification.

Also in the day, the Tank DMO issued a fresh notice to federal minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur for allegedly violating the election code of conduct by campaigning for the PTI candidates in the district and directed him to appear before him or send in a lawyer for response on Dec 17.

He warned that if the minister didn’t show up before him on that day, proceedings would be started against him under the Elections Act in his absence.

Earlier, the DMO had issued Mr Gandapur a notice on Dec 14 but he didn’t appear before him.

He also issued notices to MNA Asad Mehmood, who is a son of the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and MPA Mahmood Ahmad Khan asking them to appear on Dec 17 (Friday) and explain their respective positions on the alleged violation of election code of conduct by campaigning for their party candidates.

Moreover, Charssada DMO Sahibzada Abbas Bukhari issued notices to local MNA Anwar Taj and MPAs Sultan Mohammad Khan and Khalid Khan of the PTI asking them to appear before him on Dec 17 (Friday) to explain their respective positions regarding the alleged violation of polls code.

In the notices, he said he had come to know through ‘sources’ that the lawmakers in question had been participating in the election campaigns and public meetings of their party’s candidates in the district.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2021