The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Election Commission has issued a notice to National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser for violating the code of conduct for the upcoming local government elections in the province, it emerged on Saturday.
The notice, issued by Swabi’s district monitoring officer (DMO) on December 10, and states that there is an audio clip of the NA speaker making rounds in electronic media wherein he is appealing to voters for their support and promising government funding to PTI candidates, “saying that project tenders are in process and soon these tenders will be notified”, a private TV channel reported.
Separately, the DMO sent the audio clip and a letter to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority chairperson, asking him to carry out a forensic analysis of the clip to ascertain its authenticity and track its origin. He further requested the Pemra chairperson address the matter on an urgent basis and provide the required information by December 15.
According to the election code of conduct, after the issuance of the election schedule, the president, prime minister, governor, speaker, deputy speaker of any assembly, chairman and deputy chairman of senate, federal and provincial ministers, advisers to the prime minister, chief ministers or any other holder of public office shall not visit the area of any local council to announce any development scheme or to canvass or campaign for any candidate or any political party. The DMO directed Qaiser to appear in person or through his counsel at his office on December 13 to explain his position regarding the violation of the election code of conduct and directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). In case of non-compliance with the DMO’s directives, the matter will be referred to the ECP “for the initiation of necessary proceedings against you (Qaiser)” under the Election Act 2017, the notice says.
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