Govt’s criticism on ECP completely misplaced: PPP

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan People’s Party yesterday said the criticism on Election Commission of Pakistan by the government for not conducting pilot projects on i-voting or voting machines was completely misplaced. Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Senate on Parliamentary Affairs Senator Taj Haider said that in order to clear the confusion that has been created it was necessary that the record on the pilot projects undertaken by the ECP should be set straight. “As also mentioned in the Report of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs ECP in December 2018 had submitted its Reports on Pilot Tests on i-voting in 35 constituencies and its Report on Biometric Verification Machines (BVMs) tested in NA 120,” he said in a statement. Senator Taj Haider said it was unfortunate that neither of the two Houses of the Parliament took up these Reports for discussion in the last 33 months in order to give directions in this regard to the ECP. Instead, he said, the government appointed a foreign consultant to give his opinion on the report on i-voting. “The foreign consultant also gave their opinion that i-voting at the present stage did not meet the standards required for holding free and fair elections,” he added.

Haider said the real tragedy was that consensus reached in the Senate Standing Committee on the two Electoral Reform Bills which was to be transformed into positive recommendations was torpedoed by an Advisor and a Minister. 

“The government staged a walkout in the Committee on its own Bills and the difference of opinion if any has now been converted into attacks on the person of Honorable Chief Election Commissioner,” he remarked. He added: “Why are some people afraid of consensus and why are they prepared to go down to any level in order to sabotage consensus is not understood.”

Meanwhile yesterday, Information Secretary PPP Parliamentarians Shazia Atta Marri said that PPP had rejected the federal government’s promulgation of Presidential Ordinance regarding imposing more taxes on people of Pakistan. 

In a tweet, she said that federal government has promulgated another Presidential Ordinance to impose more taxes on people who were already suffering due to high indirect taxes, inflation, unemployment, electricity loadshedding, gas shortage and water scarcity.

She said PPP highly condemns “this anti-people act of the incompetent government and demanded its immediate withdrawal in order to provide relief to the people.”

Article source: https://nation.com.pk/22-Sep-2021/govt-s-criticism-on-ecp-completely-misplaced-ppp