ISLAMABAD : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday directed to issue the success notification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq after accepting their apologies for violating electoral code of conduct.
A four-member commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza conducted hearing of the case announced the reserved verdict in offensive language case.
Imran Khan, Ayyaz Sadiq and Pervez Khattak did not attend the hearing and were instead represented by their lawyers. ECP warned the political leaders to remain cautious in future.
Babar Awan appeared before ECP and told that he is representing Khan in offensive language and secrecy of ballot code violation cases.
“A single reply seeking apology has been submitted in both the cases. Imran Khan did not violated the electoral code of conduct intentionally,” said Awan.
“How a single reply can be submitted in two cases? The response is not acceptable in secrecy of ballot code violation case. Submit a written explanation for it,” remarked the CEC.
Following the orders, Awan submitted a separate written reply saying that Khan did not made his vote public on purpose as the voting screen fell due to the huge crowd. It went on to say that Imran Khan did not willingly showed his vote in the camera.
The reply requested ECP to issue the success notification of Imran Khan for NA-53 constituency of Islamabad.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa member objected that the reply does not bear the signatures of Khan. “I have the affidavit and Imran Khan has sought an apology. According to law, one cannot take the photograph of the vote. The media cameras took the picture and not Khan,” argued Awan.
Ayaz Sadiq also tendered a written apology for breaching code during election campaign.
Giving remarks, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) said that today, Ayaz Sadiq has got to know what he actually is. Sadiq had bashed Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), saying that the commission has been given authorities more than it deserves.
He also used offensive language against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan and his voters.
