Azam Swati says CEC is a ‘puppet’ in the hands of Sharifs

Accusing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja of speaking the language of the opposition, Federal Minister for Railways Azam Swati asked him on Monday as to how many notices he had issued to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz or Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for making ‘hate speeches’, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference along with Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, he said all that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government wanted was free, fair and transparent elections, in the light of Supreme Court order. “We want such kind of system in the country which does not give an excuse to anybody to doubt the election results,” he clarified.

Making it clear to Sikandar Sultan Raja that he knew how CECs were appointed in the country, Swati accused him of being a puppet in the hands of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his brother party President Shehbaz Sharif.

The minister told him it was because of the constitutional requirement and the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) prestige that the government had made his appointment.

He told the CEC to bear this thing in mind that only that person was a ‘defeated’ person, who admitted ‘defeat’, “And we have not admitted defeat,” he stated categorically.

Swati said people wanted to know on whose orders, you (the CEC) were doing all this.

He stressed the need for saving the ECP from destruction.

Speaking on the occasion, Babar Awan said an impression was being created that PTI wanted to rig the next general elections through the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

He said he would like to quote instances from the past to show that the idea of EVMs was not a ‘new’ one.

For the first time, it was under the last PPP government that the idea of EVMs was discussed. “Hence, it did not occur to the PTI government only that EVMs should be used in the next elections,” he said.

He reminded that the next polls would not be held under the PTI government. “It will be an interim set up that will hold the elections,” he added.