KARACHI: The Jahangir Tareen-led Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) on Sunday came up with serious reservations about the role of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and accused him of being ‘biased’ and supporting ‘just one party’.

Former Sindh governor and senior IPP leader Imran Ismail described the role of the poll oversight body and its chief as ‘controversial’ not only in Sindh, but across the country and accused it of supporting the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

“The ECP has lost its credibility and impartiality,” he told a press conference here. “It’s clearly supporting just one party [PML-N]. Sometimes, the CEC sounds more like a political worker than a civil servant.”

More than 700 workers from different political parties across the province announced joining the IPP at the press conference.

Ex-Sindh governor lashes out at CEC for ‘being a political worker’

Responding to a question, Mr Ismail said that the IPP would contest the general elections from Karachi with full force and called it too early to predict whether it forge an election alliance with any party.

He also shared details of the party’s engagements in the province where it had held several meetings with leaders of different political parties.

He said the IPP believed in true essence of politics and dialogue for which it had engaged in talks with different leaders and parties.

“We are frequently meeting people. This is what politics is about. Being opponent or rival doesn’t mean any enmity. This is the true essence of politics and this is what unfortunately we lost over the years,” he said.

Earlier, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Grand Democratic Alliance have criticised the ECP and blamed it for working as the ‘B-team’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Both the parts had also demanded that the Sindh election commissioner be removed from the office.

An MQM-P delegation is due to meet the CEC in Islamabad on Monday (today) to convey its concerns over the final delimitation of national and provincial assembly constituencies and the role of the Sindh election commissioner.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2023