ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election oversight body said on Tuesday it had suspended an official for wrongly notifying a woman as a lawmaker on a reserved parliamentary seat, following a petition filed by the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) religious party.
The list submitted by the JUI with the returning officer (RO) for reserved seats for women included the name of Sadaf Yasmin as its candidate, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). But another woman, Sadaf Ehsan, submitted her nomination for the reserved parliamentary seat.
After the notification of Ehsan as a member of the National Assembly (MNA), the JUI filed a petition in the ECP, stating that Ehsan was not its candidate and the party had named Yasmin for the reserved parliamentary seat.
“Therefore, to end this dispute, notices have been issued to all concerned and a decision has been made for an open hearing of the case to resolve the matter,” the ECP said in a statement.
“The Commission has also ordered an inquiry into the whole incident to get to the bottom of the matter. Also, the concerned RO has been suspended.”
Pakistan’s national election on Feb. 8 was marred by a countrywide shutdown of mobile phone services and prolonged delays in release of constituency results, resulting in widespread allegations of vote-rigging.
A senior official in the garrison city of Rawalpindi also said last month he had helped manipulate election results in a few constituencies.
However, the outgoing caretaker government and the ECP have denied allegations of any systematic rigging of the vote.
