ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued notices to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president and acting secretary general on a petition challenging elections for the post of PML-N president.

A three-member bench of the ECP headed by Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, an ECP member from Sindh, fixed July 10 as the next date of hearing.

Petitioner Shujaur Rahman’s counsel Syed Zafar Ali Shah said to the bench that election of the new PML-N party president was not in accordance with the Constitution.

He said that details of intra-party elections had been prepared by a clerk in a room for submission to the ECP.

PTI’s plea for extending polling time rejected

The petitioner’s counsel requested the commission to summon the complete record of intra-party elections of the PML-N.

The ECP also heard three separate election petitions seeking to get ‘N’ removed from the PML-N.

Petitioners Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Niaz Inqilabi and Abdul Wahid appeared before the bench.

Mr Gandapur argued that votes were being sought in the name of Nawaz Sharif who was not heading the party after his disqualification.

When the ECP said the case would be heard on July 9, Mr Gandapur said that ballot papers would have been printed by then.

He was told that ballot papers did not bear the name of a political party, but the name of candidates and party symbols. The ECP Member from Punjab, retired Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, asked how the people could be restrained from accepting a person as their leader.

Mr Gandapur said that the election symbol should not be allotted to the PML-N. “Do you want the electoral process to be halted? Let it continue unhindered,” Justice Qureshi remarked.

A PML-N delegation comprising Raja Zafarul Haq and Zahid Hamid called on Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza and took up the issue of arrest of PML-N candidate Qamar Islam.

Talking to reporters after his meeting with the chief election commissioner, Raja Zafarul Haq said it was highlighted during the meeting that free and fair polls were the ECP’s main responsibility and that all candidates should be provided with a level-playing field.

He said that attempts were being made to facilitate opponents of the PML-N, adding that there should be no feeling that elections were not fair. The PML-N leader said that the CEC assured him that he would filfil his national responsibility.

Meanwhile, the ECP rejected PTI’s plea for extension of polling time for upcoming general elections. The ECP said that the law provided for eight-hour polling time.

It said the polling time could be extended in peculiar circumstances for some time on polling day.

The commission said that those present in the polling station at 5pm would be allowed to cast their votes even after the time was over.

The PTI had demanded extension in time for polling till 8pm.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018