ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary leader in Senate Sherry Rehman on Friday said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is an independent and constitutional body and Prime Minister’s allegations against it is an insult and tantamount to undermining its authority.
“The Prime Minister has committed contempt under the Election Commission Act, 2017. Section 10, power to punish for contempt is very clear on this. It states that the Commission may exercise the same power as the High Court to punish any person for contempt of court and the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 (V of 2003), or any other law pertaining to contempt of court,” she said.
She said in a statement on Friday, “I will get the people out on the streets, is he instigating unrest in the country? This is an extremely irresponsible statement. Has he forgotten that he is the PM of this country?”
“It is ironic that he is criticising the Election Commission for holding Senate elections through the secret ballot. He has said that he does not understand why the Election Commission said that the ballot had to be secret. Has the PM not read the Constitution? Even the Supreme Court had agreed with ECP’s stance that the open ballot for senate election requires constitutional amendment. Through his allegations, is he challenging the Supreme Court too?” She questioned.
Rehman said that now the PM wants to obtain a vote of confidence under Article 91(7) of the Constitution. However, he has conveniently forgotten that this can only be invoked by the president and not by him, she said. The country and parliament can only be run through the constitution and not by what suits him,” She said.
She concluded by saying that, “After what happened in Daska elections, it does not suit the premier to raise allegations against ECP. He should focus on keeping a check on his workers who have clearly rebelled. He should stop misusing the president’s prerogative as a country can not be run on personal whims”.
Meanwhile, PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar thanked the president of Pakistan for endorsing opposition’s stance that prime minister has lost majority in the parliament.
According to the constitution, the president asks prime minister to take vote of confidence when the prime minister loses majority in the parliament.In a statement, he said that the prime minister can try to comfort his members on his defeat as much as he wants but would not succeed as change is coming.
Senator Khokhar said that now the leadership of opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will decide when to table a no-confidence motion. The opposition members are ready to desert Imran Khan for opposition parties’ tickets for the next elections, he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021