Failure of the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold fair, free and impartial elections in May 2013, demands that its members should immediately step down as it is becoming the demand of the most of the political parties, said Pakistan People’s Party Punjab Secretary General Tanvir Ashraf Kaira in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Kaira said that the allegations of rigging had been flying thick and high since last year and the image of the ECP was now bruised to the extent that it did not enjoy the confidence of the people any more.
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s credibility should be above board so that nobody could point finger towards it as it had to protect the mandate of the people from being stolen by the potential manipulators.
He called upon the prime minister to immediately seek consultation with the Leader of the Opposition Syed Khurshid Shah for a consensus chief election commissioner; the post was vacant since the former chief election commissioner resigned.
He welcomed the move of the political parties that included the PPP for taking up the matter with other political parties to follow pro-actively the matter of electoral reforms which were of fundamental importance to reflect the aspirations of the people.
He underscored the importance of taking up the matter on priority basis because it might take long time to complete the process of electoral reforms.
He maintained that the fool proof electoral system was the condition precedent to fulfil the purposes of the constitution that stipulated that the elected representative were privileged to exercise the authority of the state of Pakistan and no one else.
He also demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan should dispose of the election petitions expeditiously as these had already been subject to inordinate delay giving reasons for suspicion that did not bode well for the democratic dispensation.
He referred to the recent initiative of the Election Commission directing the Election Tribunals to dispose of the complaints sooner than later. The commission should have done so earlier, he observed.
