PML-Q moves EC against alleged rigging in Gujrat by-elections

PML-Q moves EC against alleged rigging in Gujrat by-elections

* Mushahid Hussain says EC should play its role to ensure fair, transparent electoral process

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leadership on Wednesday met Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Hamid Ali Mirza and filed an application against the alleged irregularities in the recent by-elections held in Gujrat.

PML_Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain led the delegation, which included Secretary General Mushahid Hussain, Opposition Leader in Senate Wasim Sajjad and Mian Imran Masoud, the PML-Q’s ticket holder for PP-111, Gujrat.

Speaking on the occasion, Mushahid said the country’s new vibrant democracy “stands on three pillars - parliament, Supreme Court and the Election Commission (EC).

Play role: “The EC is a key component of the democracy troika and it has to play its role judiciously to ensure a fair and transparent electoral process just as the apex court has dispensed justice on Tuesday,” he said.

The PML-Q secretary general said his party expected the ECP to do justice in Gujrat, where the federal and provincial governments had allegedly conducted rigging.

Mushahid said his party reposed full confidence in the chief election commissioner and his team, saying that the irregularities in the Gujrat by-polls were a “test case for the independence and credibility of the EC”.

Later, while talking to journalists, Mushahid criticised the government’s interference
in the postponement of the United Nations Commission Report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.