ISLAMABAD: At a time when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is facing strong criticism over its failure to hold free and fair bye-elections, another secretary - this time Syed Asif Hussain - has reportedly sought an extension in his leave.
Secretary ECP has been on leave for the last few days and recently sought a further extension in his leave, it is learnt, though, the polling body neither officially confirmed nor denied it.
An ECP official told Business Recorder on the condition of anonymity that the secretary requested an extension in his leave citing health reasons.
His predecessor Omar Hamid Khan had also sought leave citing health reasons and stepped down in January this year, a month before the scheduled 8 February general elections.
The 9 March presidential elections became controversial as they were held even though the electoral college was incomplete at the time and remains so to this day. Mahmood Khan Achakzai, one of the two candidates in that election, formally wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to postpone the elections citing incomplete electoral college due to non-allotment of several reserved seats in the Assemblies.
On March 14, by-elections were held on six vacant Senate seats but the candidates elected on these seats could not take oath as Senate remained dysfunctional following the ECP’s decision to hold Senate elections on April 2 whereas 52 senators stood retired after the completion of their six-year term on March 11. These senators finally took oath on April 9.
Ahead of April 2 Senate elections, the ECP took another apparently controversial decision to postpone the elections on all 11 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly citing non-administering of oath to lawmakers elected on women-reserved seats in the provincial assembly by the speaker. Resultantly, KP Assembly remained deprived of its representation on 11 seats when chairman and deputy chairman Senate elections were elected on April 9.
And finally, by-elections on 21 seats of the Assemblies this Sunday have once again made the electoral organisation a subject of strong criticism over alleged instances involving kidnapping of electoral staff, tampering with ballot papers, casting of fake votes, tampering with election results, violence and intimidation in certain constituencies.
All five ECP conducted major elections in a little over two months have all been marked with controversies involving alleged foul play raising questions over ECP’s credibility in holding free and fair polls. The electoral body has rejected all allegations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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