LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has served notices on former prime minister and MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and PPP candidate for NA-133 by-poll Aslam Gill for allegedly violating the code of conduct.

The by-election is scheduled to be held on Dec 5.

According to the ECP, MNA Ashraf allegedly participated in the election campaign of Aslam Gill despite a bar.

“Sufficent evidence has been found which corroborates your alleged violation of para-17 of the code of conduct for political parties and contesting candidates issued by the ECP for the conduct of the by-election in NA-133,” the ECP notice to Mr Ashraf reads.

Rs20,000 fine imposed on Shaista Pervaiz

It further says: “In view of the alleged repeated violations, you are called upon to appear in person, along with a written statement, to clarify your position on Nov 29 before the district monitoring officer.” The Election Commission also issued a notice to Mr Aslam Gill for violating the election code of conduct.

“The candidate is accused of taking such steps that may affect voters’ right to franchise,” it said and summoned Mr Gill to appear before the district returning officer on Sunday (today) in person to respond to the allegations in this regard.

Meanwhile, the district monitoring officer has imposed a fine of Rs20,000 on the PML-N candidate for NA-133, Shaista Pervaiz Malik, for violating the code of conduct.

According to the ECP, there is a complete ban on displaying hoardings, billboards, pana-flexes and wall-chalking during the campaign.

The NA-133 seat had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N MNA Parvaiz Malik and the party nominated his wife Shaista Parvaiz Malik to contest for the seat.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has already been out of this contest after the party candidate, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema committed a “blunder” by not meeting legal requirements to contest the election, thus giving a virtual walkover to the rival PML-N. The proposer of Mr Cheema and his covering candidate, his wife Musarrat, was not a voter of the constituency they were contesting from.

Following disqualification of its candidate, the PTI has asked its voters to abstain from voting in NA-133 by-election.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2021