Local government: Do not put off polls on floods pretext, says PPP
LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday not to seek a delay in the local government elections in the Punjab and Sindh on account of floods.
Talking to reporters after a divisional meeting of the party, PPP central Punjab president Manzoor Wattoo said: “If elections can be held during wars in other countries, why can they not be held in our country during floods?”
Wattoo said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif did not want local government elections because he liked concentration of powers. “He wants to continue to spend billions of rupees from local government funds on his whims,” he said.
Wattoo said that the PPP would not accept returning officers that were employees of the Punjab government. “The ECP should only appoint judicial officers as returning officers. Polling should be held under the supervision of Rangers and the army instead of the Punjab Police,” he said.
He said that the ECP should have given voters right to get their votes transferred to a constituency of their choice after completing the delimitation process. “PPP office bearers should check the voters’ lists in their areas and point out any false entries,” he said.
He urged the PPP national leadership to abandon the policy of reconciliation and play the role of an effective opposition. He said that a consensus in this regard had emerged during the recent meetings of PPP office bearers from Lahore, Sahiwal and Gujranwala divisions.
“The PPP firmly believes that the 2013 elections belonged to the returning officers. However, we accepted the results for the sake of democracy. Had we joined the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in its agitation against the government, the political system would have been badly affected. Our party did not seek political advantage at the expense of national interest,” he said.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, Wattoo expressed satisfaction with the party’s preparations for the local election. He said that district committees would have the freedom to make seat adjustments with other opposition parties at local level.
PPP Lahore president Samina Khalid Ghurkhi said that the PPP was united under the leadership of its chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. She also urged the party office bearers to capitalise on the Judicial Commission’s report that had put the PTI on the defensive.
The meeting was attended by 25 PPP zonal presidents. Manzoor Maneka, Sohail Malik, Naveed Chaudhry, Azizur Rehman Chann, Aslam Gill, Zahid Zulfiqar, Rana Ashar, Asif Nagra, Haq Nawaz Khan, Babar Butt, Faisal Mir, Maulana Yousuf Awan, Ashraf Bhatti, Dr Khayyam Hafeez, Imran Athwal, Khurram Khosa and Ehtishamul Haq were also present.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2015.
