Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Opposition senators on Tuesday decried alleged rigging in the February 8 elections and berated Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja for his “failure” to ensure transparency in the polls.
The Senate was holding a debate on the alleged irregularities in the recently held elections after an adjournment motion was submitted on the situation arising after the polls.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-i-Islami demanded resignation of chief election commissioner and said that action must be taken against him under the Article 6 (treason).
“It was a fake election. A judicial commission should be constituted to probe the election rigging,” JI’s senator said. He urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to seek an apology from the nation as it failed to hold transparent election on Feb 8. “The election was already sold out even before the polling. We saw each and every type of rigging in this election,” he said, while speaking during the Senate session on Tuesday. The firebrand member of the upper house said that the JI Karachi Ameer has returned his seat as the PTI-backed candidate won election from the constituency.
The JI leader also called for accountability, stating that the election commission’s actions amounted to treason and suggested that Article 6 should be invoked against the CEC. He said those who rigged the elections were traitors and were the entire country’s criminals.
Furthermore, Senator Mushtaq also questioned what sort of election it was that pushed the nation into crises, alleging that “the bullet kidnapped the ballot”. He also emphasised that it was not acceptable that a few government officials sitting behind closed doors took decisions about the nation. He also criticized the exorbitant cost of elections, demanding that the nation’s poor taxpayers’ Rs500 million spent on the polls be returned. He further claimed that the expense on election for one provincial assembly seat was Rs25 million.
The senator condemned the constantly escalating prices of essential utilities such as electricity and gas, adding that the revenue generated through this increase was being diverted to the election commission.
