Imran Khan's party changing tact from protests to proposals

Date

12/21/2015 11:24:57 PM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan (pictured) may have complained about polling arrangements after almost every election but within his own party there is a growing realisation that street protests alone cannot change the system pushing Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) towards more transparency measures.

The party which started participating in parliamentary committee on electoral reforms after eight months of absence in April this year recently held a brainstorming session in which the PTI lawmakers shared the proposals that they have made to the electoral reforms committee.

Its lawmakers Arif Alvi Shafqat Mehmood and Shireen Mazari are a part of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms.

According to a senior PTI official the party has highlighted that appointment of polling staff as one of the key issues of the polling process as handpicked officials allegedly serve the interest of those who appoint them.

Therefore the party now wants a swap of officials and has proposed that the polling staff of one province should be appointed in the other provinces to ensure impartiality.

Similarly the PTI has expressed reservations on security arrangements on the polling stations. In this regard it has proposed that deployment of army inside the polling stations should be made a permanent feature.

Earlier the PTI had also demanded deployment of army during by-elections at the National Assembly electoral constituencies NA-122 Lahore and for NA-154 Lodhran constituencies.

The party also wants electronic voting machines to be used in the next elections. However it also demands that the counting process should be carried out through a paper trail. “This proposal has been made to avoid possible rigging through ‘software’” said the PTI official.

During the meeting Alvi also asked members to give their input. Party chief Imran Khan did not attend the briefing due to other pressing engagements. However he has asked citizens to give their suggestions.

The meeting also discussed the party’s policy regarding the Election Commission of Pakistan and it was decided that members would continue highlighting the party’s concern about the commission’s provincial members but decided to no more stage protests on the issue.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who also heads the reforms committee recently said the committee has received a total of 1283 proposals comprising over 4000 pages from various quarters including civil society organisations lawyers and general public.

Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974 Electoral Rolls Act 1974 Political Parties Order 2002 Allocation of Symbols Order 2002 Election Commission Order 2002 and Representation of Peoples Act 1976 are being discussed for improvements by the reforms committee.

Internews

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