ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gilgit-Baltistan Raja Shehbaz Khan on Wednesday openly teamed up with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) by singling out the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for violating election code of conduct through ‘his rallies ahead of polls in the region’.
Speaking at a presser here, he completely forgot to mention the names of the government ministers shuttling from one village to another as part of their election campaign for the PTI-backed candidates, the G-B CEC simply said: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has violated election code of conduct in the G-B.
“Notices have been served to 95 people including leaders of the PPP over violation of the code of conduct,” he added.
Despite the fact that Prime Minister Imran Khan also addressed a rally in the G-B on November 1st under the pretext of the G-B’s national day, the CEC G-B did not bother to say a single word about the chief executive of the country’s visit and his announcement to give a provisional-province status to the G-B when the polls are hardly a few days away.
The top official set to conduct the crucial election in the mountainous region, also remained tight-lipped about the government ministers especially the Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur who could be seen regularly holding corner meetings.
Reacting to claims of pre-poll rigging in G-B, he said that he was currently in Islamabad, and the parties levelling the allegations of rigging should meet him.
“We will hold transparent election in G-B,” he maintained.
Describing the arrangements made by the election commission of G-B, he said that G-B Scouts would also perform duties along with the police during election.
The G-B CEC said that the number of registered voters in the area in 2015 was 618,624, while the number currently stands at 745,362.
He said that all the preparations with regard to November 15 polls, had been made in accordance with the election act, adding that a control room had also been set up for the announcement of the results.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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