Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and other opposition parties on Wednesday demanded after the All Parties Conference that Punjab Election Commission must deploy army inside and outside polling stations during local government elections, and announced that a team of lawyers would be approaching the Lahore High Court on Thursday for the purpose.
According to a press release, PTI leaders met with Punjab Election Commissioner Masud Ahmad Malik who assured the PTI and others that they would be provided the attested voter lists for by-polls on Nov, 01 while the PTI Punjab Organiser Chaudhry Sarwar expressed reservations regarding difference in the voter lists of local government elections.
PTI Punjab Organiser Chaudhry Sarwar, Deputy Organizer Umer Sarfraz Cheema, Dr Yasmeen Rashid, PTI Lahore Organiser Shafqat Mehmood and Provincial Assembly Member Shoaib Ahamd Saddiqui informed Masud Ahmad Malik about reservation over the polling scheme and close resemblance of printed symbols. The election commissioner said nothing could be done about the printed symbols but the Commission would try its best to remove other reservations especially of differences in voter lists.
The commissioner said that in order to meet this demand, availability of attested voter lists for by-polls and local government elections would be ensured on Nov 1.
On Wednesday, All Parties Conference was hosted by PTI at the party secretariat. Punjab Opposition Leader Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, PPP Lahore President Samina Khalid Ghurki, Jamat e Islami Punjab Ameer Mian Maqsood, PML-Q Lahore president Mian Munir Ahmad, Awani Tehrik Central General Secretary Khurram Nawaz Ghanda, PTI Lahore organizer Shafqat Mehmood, PTI Punjab Deputy Organizer Umer Sarfraz Cheema, Advisor to PTI Chairman Abdul Aleem Khan and representatives of other political parties attended the meeting.
Chaudhry Sarwar said on the occasion that a team of lawyers was filing a petition in the Lahore High Court on Thursday for the deployment of army inside and outside polling stations as police was aligned with the ruling party in the upcoming elections. He said PTI’s two supporters had already been killed and law and order situation was getting worse in Punjab.
