Senate Opp demands formation of commission to probe 2018 election

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ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties in the Senate on Monday staged a walkout to demand the formation of a parliamentary commission for a thorough probe of the general election held on July 25.

Speaking in the Upper House, Leader of the Opposition Raja Zafarul Haq said that the way election was conducted had become an important issue and merely laying a report by a Senate committee was not enough.

It was reported in the newspapers that a report about the election was presented to the prime minister, he said, adding the matter of election was not being probed systematically.

Haq said that the issue of election concerned every Pakistani and the matter should be brought before a parliamentary commission which should prepare a report and resolve the issue. Otherwise, he said that the issue would only be limited to a discussion.

After his remarks, the opposition parties staged a walkout.

Earlier, Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Rehman Malik presented a report of the committee on the holding of free, fair and transparent elections and security of 2018 election.

He said that the committee was probing the matter of the failure of Result Management System (RTS) and it was told during its proceedings that the RTS system never stopped. The committee led by him would look into the issue of slowing down of RTS so that it could reach a conclusion, he added.

He also said that during the election, the complaints of non-provision of form 45 and form 47 surfaced and ballot papers were found in heaps of garbage.

The election commission wrote a letter to Cabinet Division to form a technical committee to inquire into the conduct of elections but the committee still could not be formed, he added.

He said that the committee headed by him was formed on the orders of the Senate but still it was not getting room to get a briefing from technical persons.

Rehman Malik further said that he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan for the issuance of notification of committee of the technical persons related to the election issue.