PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 21 against for violating election code of conduct by holding rally in Swat days ahead of Local Government election.
The District Returning Officer Swat also summoned Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehmood Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed. Earlier, the DRO had summoned them on on March 18 but they failed to appear before the election commission in person or through lawyers.
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The second phase of LG elections in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is scheduled for March 31. The ECP had barred Prime Minister Imran Khan from visiting Swat, but he violated the order and staged an election rally.
Under an ordinance issued by President Dr Arif Alvi on February 19, elected members of parliament or provincial assembly has been allowed to attend or address meetings in any constituency. But the ECP is of the view that it is the ECP job to formulate a code of conduct for political parties, candidates participating in the election campaign and has declared the ordinance “illegal”.
The Islamabad high court has also rejected the Imran Khan and Asad Umar pleas for stay order on the ECP notices and remarked that they should have appeared before the election commission after violating its orders. The court maintained that the Election Commission is a constitutional body, therefore, the PM should have appeared at least through a lawyer. Therefore, the court declined to issue a restraining order against the ECP notices.
Yesterday, District Monitoring Officer (DMO) Lower Dir Hameedullah imposed fine of Rs50,000 on Prime Minister Imran Khan for violating the Electoral Code of Conduct by holding election rally in Lower Dir days before elections. It has also been decided that the matter will be referred to the Election Commission if he breached election rules again.
The ECP has also fined KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, Governor Shah Farman, Federal Ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Murad Saeed, Asad Umar and Pervez Khattak. On March 11, the Election Commission had barred Prime Minister Imran Khan from holding a rally in Lower Dir.