Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa on Wednesday alleged that the ruling party in Punjab – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – had used the government’s machinery to rig the by-polls held on Tuesday. Talking to reporters after chairing a Senate meeting of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) at the Institute of Management Sciences (IMS), he alleged that the PML-N had once again robbed the people’s mandate by rigging the by-polls. He said the PML-N had not learnt a lesson from the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict in the Asghar Khan case. Khosa urged the SC to take suo motu action on drastic violation of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) code of conduct in the by-elections at Cheecha Watni and other places. Talking about a caretaker setup, he suggested that all political parties should be consulted while selecting the name of caretaker prime minister and chief ministers.To a question, the governor said that after the introduction of the 20th Amendment in the constitution, the leader of the House and opposition leader in the National Assembly would consult each other to agree on a name for the position of caretaker prime minister, and if they fail to reach consensus, an eight-member committee of parliamentarians from both the treasury and opposition benches would recommend a name, and even then if the committee did not reach a consensus, the ECP would suggest a name to fill the position.
