ISLAMABAD: Ali Amin Gandapur, facing charges of repeatedly violating the election code of conduct in the local bodies’ (LBs) polls held recently in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), appeared in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday and submitted his reply to the notice issued to him.
A three-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the petition filed against him.
Counsel for Ali Amin’s brother Umar Amin Gandapur, who could not turn up, requested the bench to exempt his client from appearance today since the second phase of LBs polls in the province were near and he was busy in electioneering.
CEC replied that last time it was the federal minister who was absent, while today his brother Umar had failed to appear.
Counsel for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Kamran Murtaza said that there were reports that Ali was suffering from the coronavirus.
Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal said it was strange that there were video clips of the minister violating the elections’ code of conduct doing rounds on the social media despite being a Covid-19 patient.
Ali’s lawyer responded by saying that even today Ali was coronavirus positive. “But I had urged him to appear in the ECP this time despite feeling unwell,” he said, adding he was not a doctor but if the federal minister was suffering from pandemic he should not have appeared.
When CEC Raja asked whether there were new video clips of Ali Amin Gandapur, he was told that the minister had participated in election campaign on February 1 and 2.
Later, video of those election-related programmes Gandapur had attended two days back was presented in the election commission.
With input from INP
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