Present Parliament may not be entitled to bring electoral reforms in the electoral process because of its emerging controversial character following the allegations of wide scale rigging, said Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo while commenting on the suggestion of the prime minister regarding the formation of Inter-Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reforms.
He said that the historic electoral reforms were passed by the Parliament that emerged as a result of fair and impartial 2008 elections.
He underscored the importance of revamping the mechanism of the implementation in such a way that nobody could raise a finger about the impartiality, credibility and fairness of the elections. In this regard, the Indian electoral system should be studied with a view to improve our own system.
He maintained that the suggestion of the prime minister was a pre-emptive move to divert the attention of the people from the real issue that was catching up the attention of the people of all spectrums at a fast pace.
He recalled that the PPP did question the authenticity of the of the May 11, 2013 elections but decided to accept the same with the sole consideration to keep the political process intact.
He urged the Election Commission and other relevant forums to address the election complaints expeditiously so that the nation could overcome the present controversy which had been consuming a lot of energy and time of the nation and the political leadership alike.
He hoped that the recent decision of the Supreme Court and the instructions of the Election Commission of Pakistan to Election Tribunals would accelerate the process of disposal of election complaints that should have been executed after the three months of the elections as per law.