Major Political parties link high turnout with voters’ confidence

ISLAMABAD, June 29 (APP):The major Political parties of the country Friday underlined the need to build voters’ confidence for increased turnout in upcoming polls urging the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to follow the code of conduct in true letter and spirit.
They expressed confidence that the ECP would provide level playing field to all contesting candidates besides ensuring the rule of law.
“The ECP should work out a comprehensive plan to hold the impartial election across the country,” Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafar ul Haq said while talking to APP.
“A delegation of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) recently visited the ECP headquarters and asked for a level playing field for all political parties to dispel the impression of unnecessary obstacles in the way of politicians.”
Raja told he was assured by the commission adding that “The impartial ECP can only build voter confidence and increase their turnover in upcoming election,” he remarked.
Senator of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Farooq H Naik stressed that the ECP must adhere to the code of conduct issued by it to avoid rigging in upcoming election. The commission should introduce a system enabling the polling officers and returning officers to check the originality of voters in order to discourage the common practice of bogus voting.
“The Computerized National Identity Card must be checked properly and if a polling agent raises any objection, it must be facilitated at the spot”, Senator added.
A nominated candidate of Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from NA-125 Dr Yasmeen Rashid was of the view that ECP must stand a firm and “Call a spade a spade by punishing the wrongdoers.”
Yasmeen said the ECP should also make some transfers and posting in district administrations at grass root level especially those who are likely to be appointed as polling officer and agents as it reshuffled bureaucracy at provincial and federal level.
“The commission and interim government have to play pro-active role to avoid any kind of polls rigging”, she added.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of ECP Altaf Khan claimed that the holding of election in a country considered to be a biggest logistic activity for which every stakeholder should come forward and play due role to ensure the free, fair and impartial election.
“The commission cannot go in every area for the redressal of complaints so for this the country’s executive has to participate actively to conduct the electoral process in transparent manner,” Altaf said.
He quoted the Article 220 of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 in this regard which says “It shall be the duty of all executive authorities in the Federation and in the provinces to assist the Commissioner and the Election Commission in the discharge of his or their functions.”
Enlightening about the pro-active approach of the commission to avoid the violation of the ECP’s rules and regulation regarding electoral process he informed that the department has formed as many as 492 monitoring teams throughout the country to monitor election campaign for general election 2018.
Explaining the provinces and federation wise constitution of those teams he said, 297 in Punjab, 130 Sindh, 99 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 51 Balochistan,12 FATA and three teams have been constituted in federal capital.