Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed grave concern over the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to deploy troops inside the polling stations in bye-election in PS-II, Larkana-II, scheduled for October 17. The PPP expressed these concerns in a letter written to the chief Election Commissioner on Tuesday.

General secretary Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Farhatullah Babar wrote the letter to the chief Election Commissioner. The letter was delivered to the ECP on Tuesday. Babar in his letter said, "According to the ECP notification, army officers and junior commissioned officers (JCOs) will not only have magisterial powers for the entire duration of deployment but also additional powers to override presiding officers on the presumption that the civilian presiding officer has failed to act on any complaint of unspecified irregularity/malpractice. Further the troops will be deployed under the Article 245 of the Constitution thus effectively ousting the jurisdiction of courts against any act of omission or commission by the troops."

He further wrote in his letter, "The party believes that the presence of troops wearing intimidating gear inside polling stations and armed with magisterial powers militates against the holding of free and fair election, a constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan. The party is opposed to the deployment of troops inside polling stations anytime and anywhere." The letter has urged the ECP to reconsider the decision of posting troops inside polling stations in the interest of free and fair election.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019