It’s not my job to ensure peaceful election, Khattak tells lawmakers

KP CM says ECP did not accept provincial govt’s demand to deploy army at polling stations

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said Friday that the holding of free, fair and peaceful local government elections in the province on May 30, was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) but it failed in performing this responsibility.

Replying to a cut motion moved by MPA Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli against the poor performance of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department in the provincial assembly, the CM said that ECP was responsible for all the mess witnessed on the polling day as our written request for the deployment of army to maintain law and order at the polling stations was not honoured. “I am generally satisfied with the performance of the police force,” he said.

“However, during the local government elections if it has not been up to the mark, then it was due to the fact that these elections were being held on a large scale wherein a large number of candidates were contesting and thousands of voters were casting their votes, which were beyond the control of the police and that was why we requested in advance for holding these elections under the supervision of the army,” he added.

A high-level committee, he said, has already been formed under the chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to conduct probe into the mismanagement on the polling day and fix responsibility against the persons involved. “I can’t tolerate injustice or any sort of cruelty against the common man and will take action against the perpetrators,” he remarked.

He said there were reports that in certain polling stations that the staff were either absent or not properly trained, stamps were not available, elections symbols of the contesting candidates were missing. It was not the responsibility of the CM to ensure these issues were resolved, rather it was the responsibility of the election commission that failed in performing, he further said.

He said the reports of certain DROs by itself are an FIR against them. He said blaming the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the mayhem during the elections is illogical as all the resources were placed at the disposal of the ECP and in return, false propaganda was carried out against us to defame government.

Pervez Khattak assured the house that all the suggestions aimed at bringing further improvement in the performance of the police force would be welcomed.