PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday said criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan had become a practice and the constitutional body was completely unbiased.
Talking to reporters, he said his party too had reservations over delimitations but it did not mean to show lack of confidence in the ECP and there was no question about the impartial role of the country’s top electoral body.
Blasting those trying to make the ECP and the upcoming elections controversial, senior party leader Malik Ahmed Khan said the Constitution allowed the electoral body to hold free and fair elections in the country.
Malik also praised the Supreme Court which, he added, had thwarted the attempts aimed at delaying the polls and thus foiled a conspiracy hatched by the PTI.
“Sovereignty belongs to the people of Pakistan,” Malik said as he stressed the need for holding the elections as scheduled so that they could decide their future.
Malik reminded the media persons that he too had approached the ECP after his constituency had been enlarged with a population of around 0.6 million against the average of less than 0.5 million. However, the objections didn’t mean that one should make the whole exercise controversial.
In his remarks about the level-playing field narrative, he said state institutions had been targeted on May 9 and elections was a right of every good citizen, not bad.
The press conference comes after the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council on Tuesday expressed concerns regarding the transparency, integrity and fairness of the upcoming general elections under the incumbent chief election commissioner.
In official statements, the two entities raised questions about the electoral process, delimitations, seat allocations and the absence of a level-playing field and equal opportunities for all political groups.
