LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Punjab General Secretary Hammad Azhar has said that it has come to knowledge that the voters’ list has changed for the by-elections (to be held on July 17) and thus demanded to the hold the elections on the basis of list of year 2018.

While talking to the media at the Provincial Election Commission on Wednesday, he further said that in these 20 constituencies where the by-elections were taking place, voter verification should also be done according to the year 2018 list. “Throughout Pakistan, the voters were showing concern on the status of their votes; “Millions of votes have been transferred; the votes of many people living at Islampura have been transferred to other cities,” he added.

He urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to show impartiality and remove their concerns (regarding the voters’ list and the forthcoming by-elections). “Attempts were being made to dent the PTI’s politics. We want fair and transparent elections,” he added.

The former federal minister said the PTI government did not appoint all the officials in the ECP; however, he admitted that appointing the Chief Election Commissioner was their big mistake. “We did make mistakes in our appointments,” he added.

Talking about the American conspiracy, he said it was stated in the meeting of the National Security Council that there was an intervention; “the ‘imported’ government came through the foreign intervention/conspiracy”. He said they sought immediate elections as the present government was not voted into power.

He observed that on the one hand the cases against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz were not being pursued and on the other hand the house of Monis Elahi was raided; the government was taking revenge against its opponents.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022