ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected the Scrutiny Committee report terming it ‘neither complete nor well-detailed in all respects.” The ECP in its order dated August 27 stated that “the Commission has thoroughly gone through it and came to the conclusion “that the Committee neither scrutinised the record nor evaluated the evidence from the documents.” The ECP order validated the concerns of the petitioner expressed repeatedly regarding transparency of the scrutiny process by the committee formed in March 2018. The ECP in its order reprimanded the committee by stating that “it was the duty and responsibility of the committee to scrutinise the authenticity and reliability and credibility of each and every document submitted by both parties and after proper scrutiny of documents.” The ECP stated that it was painful to say that directions were not followed in strict sense despite lapse of more than 28/29 months. The ECP in its order directed the committee to conduct afresh scrutiny and complete it in six weeks. Later on, talking to the media, the petitioner and founding member of PTI Akbar S Babar welcomed the ECP order that validated his concerns repeatedly expressed on the lack of transparency of the scrutiny process.

It is pertinent to mention that the committee meeting was adjourned until September 24 as the petitioner sought time to consult his legal team on way forward in the light of the ECP rejection of the committee’s report.