Islamabad - The Election Commission of Pakistan Monday grilled Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate Nasir Cheema from Gujranwala's constituency PP-62 for using pictures of the army chief and the chief justice in his election campaign advertisements and posters.
"Are they related to you? What is the army chief and CJP's link to the elections? On what basis did you put up their pictures?” asked Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza during the hearing of an appeal against the PTI candidate.
According to Cheema, who won Gujranwala's constituency PP-97 in the 2015 by-poll, claimed that the advertisements and posters were put up prior to the election schedule was announced.
The chief election commissioner, however, was not impressed by the reply and said: “regardless of when they were put up, you explain why their images were put up?"
The CEC asked Cheema to submit a written reply giving reasons as to why he should not be stopped from contesting the elections. The hearing was adjourned till Monday next.
Meanwhile, the ECP has issued the final list of candidates contesting the July 25 general election. According to the figure, 3,675 candidates were contesting for National Assembly seats and 8,895 candidates for four provincial assemblies.
The candidates for National Assembly seats included 760 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 1,696 from Punjab, 303 from Balochistan and 872 from Sindh. Similarly, 44 candidates were taking part on minority seats for the National Assembly.
In another related development, the ECP has fixed Thursday as the last day for receiving applications regarding postal ballots for the general election. The out-stationed voters, who cannot reach the polling station in person, can cast their votes for the national and provincial assemblies through postal ballots.
According to the ECP, applications for postal ballots must be given on the prescribed form available on the ECP’s website www.ecp.gov.pk or might be obtained from returning officers concerned. The voters to whom postal ballots will be issued would not be entitled to vote in person at polling stations. The applications would be forwarded or endorsed by the office or department of the voter concerned to guard against unauthorized person applying for postal ballots.
Meanwhile, the ECP has also asked persons with disabilities to avail the postal ballot paper facility to exercise their right of vote in the general election. According to an ECP statement, persons with disabilities could file their applications in this regard till Thursday. All the citizens, having computerized national identity cards mentioning the disabled person and issued by the NADRA could submit their applications to the returning officers concerned.
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