• In meeting with PPP team, CEC rules out election delay
• Taj Haider says ECP asked to dispose of pleas seeking postponement
• MQM accused of telling ‘white lie’ about PPP

ISLAMABAD: Just months before the country is bound to head into polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday changed the provincial election commissioners of Sindh and Balochistan, with immediate effect.

Aijaz Ahmed Chohan, provincial election commissioner of Sindh, was transferred and posted to Balochistan. He will replace Sharifullah, who will now take over as election commissioner of Sindh.

In a notification, the ECP said the decision had been taken in the public interest. Also, the ECP notified the appointment of district returning officers, returning officers and assistant returning officers — all drawn from the district administration for the polls.

The reshuffle came hours after the MQM raised doubts about the fairness of the polls slated for Feb 8, and alleged that Mr Chohan and member of ECP Sindh Nisar Durrani were actually serving the PPP while sitting in the constitutional body’s office.

Meanwhile, the ECP allayed fears of any delay in the polls and said that election schedule would be announced in next few days.

The assurance was held out by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to a PPP delegation having representation from all the four provinces, which told him that delay in polls would be unacceptable.

The delegation included Senator Taj Haider, Saeed Ghani, Nasir Hussain Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Musa Gillani, Faisal Karim Kundi, Changaiz Khan Jamali, Rozi Khan Kakar and others.

The delegation made some proposals for fair and transparent polls and handed over a list of National and provincial assembly constituencies where there was a variation of more than 10 per cent in population sizes.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Senator Haider said the commission had been urged to declare that the petitions seeking to put off elections were not maintainable.

He pointed out that election date had been fixed under an order pronounced by the Supreme Court. “If anybody wants to get it changed, he should approach the apex court,” he remarked.

He said that from PPP’s Punjab chapter, Hassan Murtaza told the ECP that local bodies elections had not been held in Punjab, but PML-N had nominated its favourites who were using the government funds under one pretext or the other, adding that people were also being inducted into these bodies in flagrant violation of election laws.

“The Election Commission acknowledged the fact that this wrong is being committed,” he claimed and said “we shall wait for action (from ECP)” in this regard.

Senator Haider said they also proposed to the ECP that applications for postal ballot should be placed on its website and the candidate concerned or his agent should be present at the time of its scrutiny.

‘MQM, a dead horse’

Ex-senator Ghani called MQM a dead horse of politics, accusing it of telling a white lie about the PPP to the Election Commission.

“PPP’s opponents know fully well that they do not have political future in Sindh. Jamaat-i-Islami is also trying to sabotage the general elections by raising one objection after the other,” he alleged.

The PPP leader maintained that all officers in the district administrations and the police department of Sindh had been transferred, and now not a single officer, who was serving during the previous PPP government, was working there.

Mr Ghani said they also informed the CEC about PPP’s concerns regarding delimitation of constituencies in Karachi’s district east.

Also, senior PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi said the ECP assured them that the poll schedule would be announced soon.

Besides, the PPP delegation submitted a list of officers posted and transferred recently. “From chief secretary to patwari, everybody has been changed in Sindh,” Senator Haider remarked.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023