ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s demand for resignation of the chief election commissioner (CEC) for what he called failure to hold fair elections.
In a statement, a spokesman for the ECP said that insinuations without any evidence were unacceptable and claimed that recently-held general elections had been conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.
The ECP spokesman said that statements meant to achieve political objectives were against the spirit of democracy and disrespected the mandate of the people who had exercised their right to vote.
The spokesman pointed out that it had already appointed as many as 20 sitting judges of the high courts as heads of election tribunals, and advised those having any grievance against general elections to take their complaints to the tribunals, in accordance with the provisions of the law.
He said that the practice of making attempts to bring constitutional institutions under pressure by issuing such irresponsible statements should now come to an end.
“The ECP would not succumb to any such pressure tactics,” the spokesman said and denounced the statement of Maulana Fazl who continues to target the ECP after losing polls from his home constituency.
Addressing a news conference in Peshawar on Thursday, the MMA chief had demanded of the CEC to quit, alleging that he had failed to conduct general election in fair and free manner.
The JUI-F chief had described Prime Minister Imran Khan and chief ministers of all the provinces as fake.
Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2018
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