The political parties on Thursday alleged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of being partial and incapable of implementing the code of conduct for holding the general elections, early next month.
Representatives of political parties expressed their concern at a roundtable conference, organised by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for International Affairs, here.
Farzana Malik, Yakut Jamil and Nosheen Saeed of PML, Tariq Malik and Sheikh Mansoor of PPP, Barrister Zafarullah Khan and Nuzhat Amir (PML-N) and Haji Muhammad Adeel of Awami National Party (ANP) participated in the roundtable.
The speakers said that the ECP has not provided the political parties with accurate information about the electoral process in the upcoming election. They said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has taken no action to redress blatant violations of their own Code of Conduct, as issues like inappropriate use of state resources, intimidation by local governments and agencies and the use of police to put up the banners of one political party, have not been curbed.
The parties also demanded that a time limit be set for electoral tribunals to decide disputes rather than allowing them to drag on for years, as in the past.
They demanded that voters' lists should be provided to parties immediately through the returning officers and the process for candidates and parties to acquire these lists should be made simple and cost effective.
The parties demanded of the ECP for the establishment of a free telephone hotline where parties, candidates and citizens can call for information and report their complaints.