ECP summons Atta Tarar, Misbah-ur-Rehman for allegedly violating CoC in NA-127

Lahore: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday  issued notice to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Atta Tarar  and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) candidate Mian Misbah-ur- Rehman over alleged breach of the Code of Conduct (CoC) in NA-127.

Atta Tarar is contesting elections from NA-127 while Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman is the PPP’s candidate for PP-160.

The ECP directed both the leaders to appear in person before it.

The development took place after both sides accused each other of buying votes ahead of the general elections.

The sources said that the District Monitoring Officer summoned both candidates, providing documentary evidence, for a meeting scheduled on February 5.

Atta Tarar, the PML-N leader, in  a video message, claimed that he recovered holy books from the election office of the PPP and alleged that the voters were being asked to take oath for votes to the PPP. He said that three people were involved in the sale and purchase of the votes.

The  PPP had earlier demanded the filing of an FIR against Atta Tarar and others from the PML-N, accusing them of assaulting its election office in NA-127 Lahore.

Shehla Raza, a PPP leader, claimed in a press briefing that Tarar orchestrated the attack and abducted three PPP workers, citing Tarar's resort to violence as indicative of his anticipated defeat in NA-127.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N's Atta Tarar are contenders in the NA-127 constituency.

Earlier, reports surfaced that the police had not submitted a report to the ECP regarding tensions between the PML-N and the PPP in NA-127, Lahore. The ECP had intervened due to concerns about the situation and requested reports from the Punjab government and the police, expressing dismay over the delay in receiving the incident details.