PM’s media conference not given clean chit: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Babar Yaqoob, on Sunday said no clean chit had been given to the press conference of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and proceedings will be conducted as per the law.
Addressing a press conference along with ECP’s Additional Secretary Fida Muhammad, he said the PM addressed a press conference one day before the by-polls. On this, the PTI wrote a letter to the ECP in which it raised an objection and the commission also received another letter in this regard. However, the ECP did not take any action on it so far, he added.
“The chief election commissioner (CEC) did not make any statement regarding the press conference of PM and audiotape message of PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan and there was no reality in the media news items,” he added and maintained that the by-elections in Lahore and Okara remained peaceful.
He lauded the performance of Pakistan Army and other institutions including the Punjab Police, who contributed well to the by-polls on the behalf of ECP.
The secretary said the by-polls were held under the supervision of the Pakistan Army and it would supervise the electoral process till the final results.
He said DROs and ROs were deputed in Lahore from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) while the ECP officials hailing from Balochistan were deputed in Okara adding that no official was deputed in these constituencies from the Punjab and federal government.
Meanwhile, the ECP’s central control room received 30 complaints of minor nature related to the by-elections in NA-122, Lahore, and disposed them of.