Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Sunday blasted Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) terming the constitutional body “incompetent” to hold elections.

The criticism comes after an election tribunal on Friday had issued a notice to the NA speaker on a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Abdul Aleem Khan alleging irregularities and pre-poll rigging in the NA-122 (Lahore) by-election. The PTI petition maintains that at least 30,000 votes had been cancelled and shifted from the NA-122 constituency before the by-poll while the ECP had the record of shifting of only 7,000 votes, adding that this act of the commission was amounted to pre-poll rigging.

Sadiq, while speaking to journalists on Sunday, said that the body responsible to hold free and fair polls has failed in its duty and is instead holding him “accountable” for their own sins. “Is it the ECP’s incompetence or mal intention on their part to send the case to election tribunal without seeking my point of view?” Ayaz Sadiq questioned. Sadiq, who defeated PTI’s Aleem Khan in the NA-122 by-polls, was of the view that it is the ECP, which should stand trial in the case and respond to PTI’s allegations of pre-poll rigging.

“If you need a lawyer, I will provide you but it is your duty and responsibility to transfer votes, not mine,” said the PML-N leader. The PTI petition requested the tribunal to set aside the result of the by-election on the grounds of alleged rigging. Rasheed Qamar, a member of the tribunal, directed Ayaz Sadiq to appear in person or through a lawyer to answer the questions raised in the petition.