Minister for Information Firdous Ashiq Awan on Friday said that it was surprising that Prime Minister Imran Khan had been issued a show-cause notice by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for visiting Ghotki.
The PM had visited Ghotki on Wednesday to condole the death of federal minister for narcotics control Ali Muhammad Mahar. A by-election for the NA-205 seat is scheduled for July 18.
The ECP issued show-cause notices to the PM, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Privatisation and Aviation Muhammad Mian Soomro and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail for visiting Ghotki prior to the by-election. In the show-cause notice, all of the ministers have been given one week to submit a reply on the matter.
According to Para 17(b) of the ECP code of conduct, no member of parliament can visit a constituency where by-elections are scheduled after the dates for the election have been notified.
“The prime minister had gone to Ghotki to convey his condolences over the death of an esteemed member of his Cabinet, federal minister for narcotics control Ali Muhammad Mahar. There was no press conference and the prime minister did not announce any packages for the people of the area,” Awan said, while speaking to the media outside the Parliament.
“In spite of this, the ECP in Sindh, on the request of a candidate that had gone to submit his candidacy papers in full police protocol, chose to send a show-cause notice to Prime Minister Imran. This episode has made it clear to us that our fight is not over; our institutions are not fully independent as yet and that we have to work towards truly free and fair elections,” she added.
“It is strange that ECP issued a notice to the prime minister for visiting Ghotki, but the same commission chose to look the other way when the Sindh CM opened his coffers for campaigning, or when sitting members of parliament went to places and tried to entice the population with attractive development offers,” she said.
She said that a member of the opposition had asked for an NRO on the floor of the National Assembly. “A member of the opposition, who had come to the National Assembly on the basis of a production order, made a very sugar-coated request for a NRO on the floor of the assembly when he said ‘hisab kitab bandh kero’ (end accountability),” she said.
