CEC says court judgments on electoral issues interference in ECP affairs

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan on Tuesday expressed concern over the high courts’ judgments in matters purely relating to the electoral body’s domain.
Some lawyers present during the hearing of various matters here, including the Kissan Package and deletion of hundreds of votes, told The News that the CEC maintained that the addition or deletion of votes was purely the obligation of the Election Commission under the Constitution and law.
According to one of the petitioners, the CEC even called it an interference in the powers of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that the high courts were giving judgments on electoral matters.
He regretted that the lawyerstend to obtain judgments from courts instead of moving the Election Commission on electoral issues.The CEC reportedly said that certain decisions by the courts were undermining the powers of the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, the ECP asked the Ministry of Finance to submit its reply on the Kissan Package on or before December 1, the day of next hearing in Prime Minister’s Kissan Package, which has drawn criticism from various political parties, particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), describing it as a bid to influence the local bodies election.
Besides, the secretary finance, the deputy attorney general was present during the hearing on the Kissan Package.