ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan today (Thursday) has raised questions over the responsibility and performance of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), claiming that the electoral body has caused real damage to democracy.
“The election commission protected those who made money by holding Senate elections through a secret ballot,” he said in an address to the nation a day after the ruling party suffered a setback when its candidate Abdul Hafeez Sheikh lost to Opposition candidate Yousuf Raza Gillani on an Islamabad general seat.
The Prime Minister said that the ECP had a major role to play during the Senate polls but questioned its request to hold the election via close ballot. “ECP major responsibility was transparency but why did you ask for a close ballot,” he questioned.
PM Imran announced to take vote of confidence from the parliamentarians on Saturday, saying that he would sit in opposition if fail to get the majority from the lower house.
He vowed that whether or not he is in power, he will never let the corrupt off the hook and will rally the nation against them. “Whether I am in the government or out of the Assembly, I will not spare them,” he added.
The premier said when the PTI took part in the Senate elections six years ago, he realised that money is used in the polls. “This was not a new phenomenon but had been going on for the last 30-40 years,” he claimed.
“The one who becomes a senator and wants to become uses money,” he said. The Prime Minister said that the country’s leadership comes from within the members of parliament and here you have people becoming Senators after bribing others. “What sort of democracy is this? So I began a campaign for open balloting,” he added.
Referring to Senate polls 2018, the party found that 20 lawmakers sold themselves off. “However, it was not just me. The PML-N and PPP signed a Charter of Democracy favouring the open balloting method because money rules in the Senate elections,” he continued.
“We presented a bill in the parliament for open balloting in Senate elections. When other parties who previously supported open balloting did not support our demand, we went to the Supreme Court,” he added.
“I now ask you. Why do you think the same parties who wanted an open ballot now geared all their efforts to have a secret ballot?” asked the premier. He said they were saying it is “unconstitutional” and “non-democratic” but was it not so before when they signed the Charter of Democracy.
He said, “I had predicted on the very first day, they will all stand together and their sole interest will be to put so much pressure on me that I relent and wrap up their cases.”
“Pakistan is not a poor country, but no country can progress when the corrupt powerful launder money,” he said, adding that a country’s downfall comes when a country’s prime minister himself engages in corruption. “What message have we sent to the young population of our country, with this Senate election,” he remarked.
