ISLAMABAD, July 8: The opposition has deputed a team of legal and other experts to raise, what it termed, the violation of election rules by the government in the Attock and Tharparkar by- polls with the election commissioner , the judiciary and also to take up the matter at international forums.
The presence of the prime minister, the Punjab chief minister, the federal information minister, the parliamentary secretary for finance, the Sindh chief minister and the ruling party's MNAs and MPAs alongside the prime minister-in-waiting, Shaukat Aziz, in the two constituencies where he had gone to submit his nomination papers for by-elections, is being seen by the opposition as an attempt on the part of the government at influencing the electorate, which it said, amounted to a blatant violation of election rules.
Sources said the Sindh chief minister's official aircraft was used to facilitate the entourage of Mr Aziz to reach Tharparkar. However, officials said the aircraft was used for the chief minister and the prime minister and not for Mr Aziz.
When asked if presence of top government functionaries with Mr Aziz amounted to election engineering, the PML secretary general, Senator Mushahid, said, "This is a norm in any democracy and the presence of the prime minister, the chief minister and other ministers was because Mr Aziz was part of the party and the government."
He said the people had elected the prime minister and the ministers and their presence alongside Mr Aziz was part of the norm of any democratic election process. In response to the opposition's demand for resignation of Mr Aziz from his portfolio as finance minister in line with the 2002 precedent, Senator Mushahid said at that time a technocratic government was ruling the country, while a democratic government was in power now.
However, he parried a question if the election rules as notified in 2002 would still be applicable or not. People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said the presence of the entire government machinery, including the prime minister, with Mr Aziz amounted to influencing the electorate.
Senator Babar said the PPP would raise the issue with the Election Commission and the judiciary besides informing the international observers and monitors about election engineering by the government.
Deputy parliamentary leader of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) in the National Assembly, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said the election rules clearly prohibited the use of any official means for election purposes.
He said the government had insulted the Election Commission by declaring that Mr Aziz was a prime minister-in-waiting and would win the elections. Referring to the nomination of Mr Aziz as the future prime minister despite the fact that he is yet to contest the elections, the MMA leader said, "The government has announced the birth of the baby even before the marriage was solemnised and consummated."
He said since the MMA had decided to field its own candidates after failure of talks with the ARD on nomination of a joint candidate against Mr Aziz, the party would raise the issue of violation of election rules at appropriate forums.