PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the violations of the election code of conduct by the provincial and federal government ministers to ensure free, fair and impartial local body polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Addressing a public meeting in Sarband village on the outskirts of Peshawar on Sunday, PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam warned the government to desist from announcing development schemes as it amounted to pre-poll rigging, according to a statement issued here.

The PML-N leader asked the district administration and the police to not support the government in case of any attempt at rigging the elections. He said that all the opposition parties had rejected the results of the 2018 general elections on the basis solid proofs about rigging, and that was why the candidates feared repetition of the illegal practice in the local government elections scheduled for Dec 19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Muqam said that the ‘selected’ government had no concrete plan to overcome the soaring prices of daily use commodities, which had made lives of the poor people miserable. He said that the government had bowed down before the International Monetary Fund for taking loans, adding that the agreements were not in the interests of the country.

He asked the people to reject the candidates of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and take revenge from the government through the ballot.

Qari Zahir, the PML-N candidate for Peshtakhara tehsil chairmanship slot, PML-N former district councillor Rahmadil Nawaz and others also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2021