ECP probes alleged detention of its staff on LHC premises

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan is probing the alleged detention of Bahawalpur’s Regional Election Commissioner and returning officers on the high court premises and their release only after they re-allocated electoral symbols of choice to eight PTI candidates.

The incident occurred late Wednesday on the premises of Bahawalpur bench of the Lahore High Court and was reported to the Secretary ECP at once by Bahawalpur Division’s Regional Election Commissioner Muhammad Shahid.

Earlier eight miscellaneous petitions by five national assembly candidates from Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan and three provincial assembly candidates were filed and heard.

Sami Ullah Chaudhry, Raees Muhammad Mehboob Ahmed, Raja Muhammad Saleem, Khalil Ahmed and Muhammad Nabeel ur Rehman are national assembly candidates whereas Muhammad Ameer Hamza Khan, Muhammad Asghar and Shafqat Shaheen are provincial assembly candidates.

Initially, presence of the chief election commissioner was demanded during the hearing. However, the regional level chief there. According to the report, the relevant returning officers in the said writ petitions as well as regional election commissioner were told not to leave the court.

The report says that it was remarked that the Supreme Court and armed forces are being defamed by the actions of ECP with regard to the conduct of the general election. The report states the ECP counsel was told the partial activities of elections as well as Election Commission of Pakistan are known nowadays.

The report states, “The police officials detained the undersigned as well as returning officers and district returning election commissioner, Bahawalpur, in the courtroom*.” According to the report, it was further communicated through additional advocate general that the concerned returning officers as well as regional election commissioner, Bahawalpur, and district election commissioner, Bahawalpur, would be behind the bars if the verbal orders were not complied with within an hour, the report adds.

The report stated that the returning officers had no option other than revising Form-33 and submitting the same, adding that it was only then that they were allowed to go out. The report stated the honorable court reserved the decisions on the writ petitions, and did not announce any by 6pm. “The court associate informed the undersigned that the order may be announced later approximately 8pm,” the report concluded.