ECP fails to indict Imran, Fawad again for contempt
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan could not charge PTI founder Imran Khan and ex-federal minister Fawad Chaudhry again on Wednesday in the contempt of ECP and chief election commissioner cases.
The four-member bench of the commission, headed by Sindh Member Nisar Ahmad Durrani, reached the Adiala Jail, where hearings are conducted for security reasons, mainly concerning Imran.
Fawad’s lawyer and his brother Faisal Chaudhry were present before the bench, whereas PTI’s founding chairman’s lawyer, Shoaib Shaheen, was not due to scrutiny of nomination papers.
The hearing and the charge-sheeting of the two were adjourned until January 3, 2024. Fawad has already moved the commission for an open hearing of the case, and Faisal Chaudhry has been invited to present the matter before the commission.
Separately, the election commission has clarified that there is no provision in the law to upload electoral rolls on the website, and the reasons for this included protection of the data from cyberattacks and ensuring voter privacy as well. Reacting to a media report, Election Commission Spokesman Haroon Shinwari said that Section 79 of the Elections Act, 2017 and Rule 45 of the Election Rules, 2017 provide a formal procedure for obtaining electoral rolls. Under these rules, he explained that there is a complete description of the final electoral rolls for obtaining hard copies and soft copies.
“However, there is no provision in the law to upload electoral rolls to the website. The reasons are that voters have personal data, which includes their name, identity card number, father’s name, and photograph, so that it is not used by any person or institution for any wrong purpose,” he said.
Separately, according to the Media Coordination and Outreach Wing, the election commission has set up an Election Monitoring and Control Centre (EMCC) for the convenience of general public during the general elections in 2024. According to the spokesman, this centre will allow the general public to contact it about the election and register their complaints. Immediate action will be taken for timely redress of the complaint(s), and trained staff have been deployed at the centre for this purpose.
The election commission has set up control centres at four levels for registration and prompt redress of public grievances, including control rooms at provincial, divisional, and district levels in addition to the Islamabad secretariat.
