A three-member Supreme Court bench on Friday issued notices to PPP’s incumbent chairman and general secretary over a pending petition by late Benazir Bhutto against bogus electoral rolls.
The bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry in its detailed verdict over a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan seeking preparation of electoral rolls after eliminating all 37 million bogus votes, also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to positively complete preparation of transparent electoral rolls by February 23, 2012.
The court also issued notices to about 28 members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies elected in by-polls when the ECP was incomplete under the provisions of the 18th Amendment, directing them to file their reply by January 10.
The court made it clear to the ECP that the deadline set for preparation of new electoral rolls would not be extended at any cost. The court directed the ECP to submit with the registrar’s office fortnightly reports over the progress on preparation of new electoral rolls. The court also clubbed a pending petition of late Benazir Bhutto filed in 2007 over the same matter with the petition of Imran Khan.
The chief justice pointed out that in response to Benazir’s petition, the ECP was directed to complete preparation of transparent electoral rolls within one month, however, even after four years, the electoral rolls were still incomplete. He said if the forthcoming elections were held through the old electoral rolls carrying 44 percent (37 million) bogus votes, there would be bloodshed, for which the ECP would be solely responsible.
The ECP had submitted in the court a schedule for revising the electoral rolls. It was pointed that the ECP had deleted verified votes from the electoral rolls in view of the report of NADRA.
