Election Commission rejects PTI allegations, requests top court to throw out the plea
Pakistan
Shares the details of steps taken, nomination papers filed by the aggrieved party
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Rejecting the allegations of not providing a level-playing field to the PTI, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has requested the country’s top court to not only reject the plea but also impose a hefty fine on the petitioner.
The ECP took this stance in its reply submitted to the Supreme Court which had earlier directed notices to the various parties nominated in the matter, as the PTI can no longer contest the general elections scheduled for February 8 on its party symbol after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict while it is also claiming of being kept out of the electoral race through intimidation and other means.
In this connection, it has already moved the Supreme Court to get the PHC’s decision in favour of the ECP besides pressing it to accept the demands related to the so-called level-playing field.
The ECP written reply mentions that they held a meeting with the PTI in the light of the Supreme Court orders and assured the party of providing a level-playing field without any exception.
Moreover, the ECP also issued necessary directions to the provincial police chiefs and a total of 33 complaints filed by the PTI by December 26, as it also shared with the apex court the details of the steps taken for address the grievances.
Later, the ECP says, the provincial [Punjab] chief secretary and inspector general of police (IGP) as well as the returning officers (ROs) submitted the reports on implementing the directives.
The report shared by the ROs show that no truth had been found in the accusations levelled by the PTI, which are rejected completely, says the ECP in its reply.
About the number of nomination papers filed by the PTI, it says there were 843 PTI candidates for the National Assembly. out of which the candidature of 598 have been accepted and 245 rejected.
For the provincial assemblies, there are 1,398 PTI nominees still in the race after the rejection of 379 nomination papers, it added.
Hence, the percentage of accepted nomination papers of the PTI candidates for the national and provincial assemblies is 76.18, the ECP informed the Supreme Court.
Earlier, the Punjab chief secretary in a written reply had assured the apex court of complete cooperation with the ECP and listed the steps taken in this regard.
