Staff Reporter Lahore
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan is provoking federal ministers to “frontally attack” the election commission.
Reports recently surfaced of the premier asking his ministers to back Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry and Minister for Railways Azam Swati who were served notices by the Election Commission of Pakistan after they levelled serious allegations against the constitutional body.
“Imran Khan’s advice to his ministers to ‘support’ two of their cabinet colleagues is a provocation to frontally attack Election Commission,” the PML-N president said.
“He is targeting ECP at a time of massive internal and external challenges. He cannot be allowed to browbeat our institutions into submission,” Shahbaz added.
In a cabinet meeting yesterday, the prime minister, according to sources, told federal ministers to support Chaudhry and Swati and asked them to visit the election commission along with the federal ministers when they are summoned by the body.
Swati had accused the ECP of taking money from companies that make electronic voting machines during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee for Parliamentary Affairs on September 10.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry had said that the ECP has “become the headquarters for Opposition parties” and the chief election commissioner is “acting as their mouthpiece”, during a press conference the same day.
The ECP served notices to Chaudhry and Swati on September 16, seeking explanations within a week from both the ministers for accusations against CEC Sikander Sultan Raja and the commission.
