ECP material destroyed in Lahore school fire

LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday clarified that material of vital importance was not stored in a government school in Lahore where fire broke out,Express News reported.

“The material stored in the basement of the government school was not used,” ECP Deputy Director Abdul Hameed asserted.

Earlier today, a fire broke out in a government school on Reti Gun Road, destroying material belonging to the ECP.

“The material for general elections was not affected,” Hameed said, adding, “The material stored in the basement was for the upcoming by-elections and local bodies elections.”

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Sindh High Court seeks comments on PM’s disqualification case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) was informed on Monday by Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin that the federal government wanted to file objections to two constitutional petitions, which have sought disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar for allegedly lying on the National Assembly’s floor.

The bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, directed Talibuddin and the provincial advocate-general, Muhammad Sarwar Khan, to file objections and comments, explaining if any petition involving similar controversy was pending before the Supreme Court or not, by September 30.

The bench was hearing two separate petitions filed by Maulvi Iqbal Haider and Maqsood Ahmed, who had sought to disqualify the premier and interior minister for allegedly lying during a recent session of the parliament.

The secretaries of the law ministries, the premier, the interior minister, the director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations, the secretary interior, the deputy commissioner Islamabad and IG Islamabad police were named as respondents in the case. The petitioners claimed that the PM Nawaz Sharif had met the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif to intervene in the political crisis in order to resolve it. However, when the question regarding the COAS’s intervention was raised in the parliament, he denied asking General Raheel Sharif to mediate.

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Post-elections report: ECP admits shortcomings in 2013 polls

ISLAMABAD: Amidst doubts about the credibility of the 2013 general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has made public its post-polls report, highlighting ‘several challenges’ it faced in conducting free and fair electoral exercise.

The report was compiled by post-elections review committee, comprising officials from the ECP, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The committee was constituted by the ECP after the May 11, 2013 elections. The committee completed its 175-page report in December last year but it was not made public due to unknown reasons.

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