LAHORE - Reiterating his resolve to hold free and fair elections, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim has said transparent polls are an absolute must for the country.
The CEC has also warned that the MPs who would refuse fresh oath in line with the Supreme Court decision in the dual nationality case could face legal implications.
“The dream of a changed Pakistan can’t be materialised without free and fair elections,” he told the media after a visit to the Punjab Election Commission on Friday.
Calling the parliamentarians’ dual nationality a serious issue, the CEC announced summoning a special meeting of the commission in Islamabad on October 9 to take up the matter.
“Both the Supreme Court (SC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) want to uphold supremacy of the law and the Constitution over the (dual nationality) issue,” he said, warning that the legislators would face the music if they failed in responding to the declaration of fresh oath.
Fakhruddin said the commission wanted to ensure that the public representatives are “completely Pakistanis and not half Pakistanis”, though the Parliament got angry with the commission at the issue.
He regretted the media “misreported” on voter lists. “Give me the list of at least 1,000-2,000 unregistered people. No political party has received the copies of new voter lists so far, he said, adding that the voter lists were placed at Election Commission Offices and the unregistered voters should get themselves registered.
The CEC laid stress on the media as well as the political parties to play their part in ensuring transparent elections. Fakhruddin said since the situation in Balochistan was improving, election would be held in the province.
About e-polling, he said that the commission was making efforts to use e-polling in the general elections and a model polling station would be set up in each province to apply this technique.
About the fake degree issue, the CEC said decision on 40 cases had been made while a couple of cases would be decided within three months.
The CEC asked the political parties to give their suggestion on amendment to the code of conduct. Fakhruddin said that he was facing no pressure from the government while charging his responsibilities.
Agencies add: The chief election commissioner said the commission took historic decision and disqualified the parliamentarians holding dual nationality. He said they were bound to the directives of the Supreme Court.
To a question‚ he said to facilitate the voters the number of polling stations has also been increased.
He said he had visited Balochistan and would soon visit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. To another question, he said that cases of fake degrees of lawmakers were being referred to sessions judges. He said that fake degree holders would not be able to contest elections again in future.