Shehbaz sees a repetition of the cipher episode; Malik says ECP enjoys powers for appointing officials
PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the PTI was conspiring to get the February 8 general elections canceled just like it had staged the cipher episode.
“The application filed by the PTI [against the appointment of bureaucrats as election officials at district, tehsil, and constituency levels] is a conspiracy to sabotage the people’s representation,” Shehbaz said in a statement.
Shehbaz grilled the former ruling party for always practicing hypocritical politics and executing a plan to escape elections. The PTI would be responsible for any delay in elections, he made it clear.
He said the PTI wanted to create a constitutional crisis to destabilize the country. It had been using media to call for early polls, but for all practical purposes was filing petitions to get the elections delayed, the former prime minister noted.
The PML-N president reminded that bureaucracy had also performed the job of district returning officers (DROs) but the PTI didn’t object to the move back then.
The reaction came as the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday suspended notifications issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) appointing DROs, returning officers (ROs), and assistant returning officers (AROs) from executives in the upcoming general elections.
LHC suspends ECP’s notifications for the appointment of DROs, and ROs from executives similarly:
Similarly, PML-N leader Malik Ahmed Khan told reporters in Lahore that the Election Act’s Section 51 was very much clear about the appointment of election officials, adding that the PTI had moved the courts intentionally to hinder the election process.
He explained that the ECP had informed the Supreme Court in the presence of PTI representatives about the election process and the appointment of election officials was just the beginning.
The move was meant to impact the entire electoral cycle for petty gains, Malik said, and stressed that the ECP had complete authority to identify and appoint the election staff.
He also reminded that the judiciary had earlier expressed its inability to provide the required staff which prompted the ECP to opt for the officials from the administrative services.