ECP summons Imran on violating secrecy of vote

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday issued a notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for casting his vote in violation of the code of conduct in the general election.

The Election Commission has summoned Imran on July 30 for breaching the secrecy of ballot during the election and he could send his counsel for representation before the Election Commission, failing which the matter can be decided unilaterally. According to sections 93, 94 and 103 of the Elections Act, 2017, the elections shall be ‘by secret ballot’.

Earlier, the Election Commission referred the matter of Imran’s controversial vote casting to the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza, who discussed the issue with the members of the Election Commission It was learnt that the video of Imran casting his vote in front of the media was also sent to the ECP top bosses.

While defending the party chairman, PTI leader Senator Faisal Javed, said Imran is not at fault for the mistake during casting his vote. He said the media was present there and it was the job of the polling staff to stop them. Still images and video clips flashed across the media, immediately after the incident, showing Imran stamping the ballot paper in full public view at the presiding officer's table instead of doing it secretly inside the polling booth.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission also took notice of the live media talk by Imran, PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and PML-N candidate Khawaja Asif, terming it violation of the code of conduct. The Election Commission had asked the media not to telecast live media talk of any political party or candidate.