Former climate change minister Sherry Rehman has filed a petition in Lahore’s election commission against the suspension of mobile and internet services.

Speaking outside the electoral watchdog’s office, Rehman expressed concern at the internet outage on election day and demanded that services be restored “urgently”.

The PPP leader said that suspending the internet services would “negate democracy and the polling process”, emphasising that candidates needed an internet connection to remain in touch with their polling agents.

“Our entire communication system depends on the internet. How will polling agents convey their complaints to us?”

The PPP vice-president stated that the party would approach the court as well regarding the matter. Rehman highlighted that the entire country had not been declared “sensitive”, adding that the security situation during the 2008 elections was worse.