Three provincial ECP members ready to step down

ISLAMABAD: Three provincial members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have agreed to step down from their respective offices, sources said on Saturday.

These ECP members – Justice (retd) Riaz Kayani for Punjab, Justice (retd) Roshan Ali Essani for Sindh and Justice (retd) Shahzad Akbar for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – will submit their resignations to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sardar Muhammad Raza on Monday.

The election commissioners of the three provinces seemed to have succumbed to the pressure mounted first by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and intensified further by the added force from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

According to sources, one of the three provincial ECP members who have shown readiness to quit, has already drafted his resignation.

Sources also said that the situation could change if the Chairman ECP succeeded in convincing these ECP members about having a strategy to strongly defend the Commission in the face of current stream of allegations.

ECP convenes meeting on Monday

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been convened for Monday, following the readiness shown by election commissioners of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to tender their resignations.

Besides discussing allegations being lavelled by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against the ECP, the meeting will also review the Commission’s future course of action in the light of prevailing circumstances.