Election Commission failed to fulfil responsibilities, Prime Minister

According to GNN, in the letter, the Prime Minister has requested the Speaker of the National Assembly to form a parliamentary committee for electoral reforms.

The Prime Minister said that he wants electoral reforms to get implemented before the next general elections.

The use of technology in elections is essential to maintain transparency, he added.

The Prime Minister thought that in the recent Senate elections, money was used once again. “I had spoken in favour of electoral reforms for holding transparent elections at all levels. In the Senate election, PTI had also demanded open voting,”

He wrote that, PTI had taken the bill in the National Assembly and also went to the Supreme Court for holding elections fare. The Supreme Court had directed to make the elections transparent but unfortunately, the Election Commission failed to fulfil its responsibility.

It may be recalled that after government candidate Abdul Hafeez Sheikh lost in the Senate Islamabad general seat, the Prime Minister in his address to the nation had sharply criticized the performance of the Election Commission, to which the Commission had also reacted.

In addition, the government has recently demanded the resignation of the Election Commission.

Earlier, in the most highlighted and awaited contest of Senate elections, Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate Yousuf Raza Gillani thumped PTI candidate Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

Yousaf Raza Gillani registered his victory from an Islamabad’s General seat.

Yousaf Raza Gilani, a former prime minister who belongs to the PPP, enjoyed the support of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance cobbled together by a dozen opposition parties against the embattled government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The Gilani-Shaikh duel carried a huge symbolic value as the PDM had said in the run-up to the Senate elections that Gilani’s victory would mean a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister, Imran Khan.

 According to an tally, out of the total 341 votes, 340 were polled. Yousaf Gilani bagged 169 votes, while his rival Hafeez Shaikh received 164 votes. Seven votes were rejected.