Law Minister Farooq H Naek said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no right to disgrace the Parliament.
Speaking on a point of order raised by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan‚ the law minister said that the country is at the verge of elections and real work of the ECP will start after announcement of the election schedule.
Naek said ECP while working within its domain must ensure free‚ fair and transparent elections and should make no distinction among different parties in transacting its business.
He said the ECP must revise the letter written to parliamentarians regarding verification of their degrees.
Naek declared the ECP’s letter unconstitutional and said the commission violated Article 218 of the constitution.
He demanded ECP officials to take back letters from the 250 parliamentarians.
Earlier‚ opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the ECP must write a letter to the concerned education institutions for verification of the certificates and degrees so that the election could be held in a smooth way. He said a parliamentary committee must be constituted to negotiate with the ECP on the issue of verification of degrees.
MQM leader Farooq Sattar said those who made the ECP powerful were now staging sit-ins in front of it.
He demanded that the commission should check degrees of parliamentarians. He said if the ECP was made a controversial institution, no one would trust the fairness of elections.
He said verification of votes and re-demarcation of constituencies should not be carried out in one city only.
