ECP slams Fawad Chaudhry's 'baseless' allegations

ISLAMABAD: In a hard-hitting response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry's allegations against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, the body Tuesday denied all claims and said "conspirators would fail".

In a statement, the spokesperson for the ECP stated that the accusations were false and that the commission could "not be influenced by unjust means".

The ECP spokesperson urged those making allegations to examine their past wrongdoings.

The ECP stated that all hiring was done transparently by following rules and regulations. No close relative of any top official was given a job, the spokesperson said.

Additionally, all technical and professional experts were hired according to the re-employment policy and relevant regulations, with no recruitment made without advertisements, the spokesperson added.

The commission also denied purchasing any private land for its offices, stating that all of its offices were built on state-owned land, with no private transactions involved.

The Sargodha office was constructed on land provided by the Punjab government during the PTI government's tenure.

The land acquired for the commission's offices during the PTI's tenure was obtained from the Punjab government at official rates and then transferred to the Election Commission from the federal government’s treasury.

The election commission could not be pressured by any unjust means, and those who apologise to the commission do not make such statements, the statement said, referring to Chaudhry's apology in 2021 for his tirade against the electoral body.

"The commission hoped that all conspirators would fail in their nefarious intentions," the statement added.

The allegations

The rebuttal came hours after Chaudhry lashed out at the CEC alleging that the latter was acting as a "crony" of the ruling alliance.

"Article 221 of the Constitution vests the power to appoint officials in a five-member committee. This power was usurped by the CEC," Chaudhry said in his presser at Islamabad.

He claimed that Additional Secretary Admin Manzoor Akhtar Malik had been appointed to his post without any prior advertisement because he used to work with the incumbent ECP when the latter was the secretary of railways.

Similarly, Khurram Shehzad, who was a legal consultant for Pakistan Railways, was also appointed as additional director of general law, he claimed.

"The advertisement was done in a way that only Shehzad could be appointed."

Chaudhry also alleged that other people were appointed to various posts without following due process. "If any politician had distributed jobs like this, he would have been summoned by the National Accountability Bureau."

The ECP, he said, had also set up a project management unit, employees of which were earning hundreds of thousands per month. The ECP chief also sat in on candidates' interviews in 2021 and selected "his own people", Chaudhry said.

Referring to the record high inflation, Chaudhry said that while it was said there was no money for poison, the CEC got a new office building at the cost of Rs60 million.

"On the one hand, they say there is no money for elections, but on the other, they have purchased four kanals of land for the election commission office in Sargodha for Rs320 million."

Chaudhry said Senator Ejaz Chaudhary had filed a reference against the CEC but no action was taken.

"PTI is sending a new reference against the chief election commissioner," he added.

The PTI leader said the CEC is part of the conspiracy to deprive people of their right to vote and demanded his dismissal.