ISLAMABAD: Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek has requested Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim to lift the ban on fresh administrative appointments as well as the diversion of funds allocated for development projects, DawnNews reported.

In a telephone call to the CEC, the law minister said a ban on recruitment and diversion of funds before the announcement of an election date was in violation of the Constitution.

He added that the commission had the mandate to impose the two bans after a date for the polls was announced.

Naek said a letter with a formal request had been sent to the CEC in this regard.

On Jan 21, the commission had banned all recruitments at the federal, provincial and local government levels with immediate effect. This ban, however, was not to apply to inductions made through the federal or provincial public service commissions.

The commission had also banned diversion of funds allocated for development projects and stopped the spending of the diverted funds.

The commission had in its directive stated that different segments of society had expressed grave concern that some government departments were in the process of inducting thousands of people to various positions which amounted to pre-poll rigging.

The directive had added that it had considered the concern voiced by people that money allocated for important development projects was being diverted to the discretionary fund of the prime minister for development in his constituency, which was nothing short of another facet of pre-poll rigging.

The commission had therefore stated the move as imperative in order to prevent any action by the federal, provincial and local governments which amounted to influencing election results.