PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has agreed to form a judicial commission to probe alleged rigging in the recent local government elections held across the province, ahead of the opposition’s planned shutter down strike.
The decision to this regard was taken during an all parties’ conference held in Peshawar on Tuesday to discuss the situation arising out of the alleged rigging and irregularities in the May 30 local government polls.
According to a communiqué issued after the conference, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) will be contacted about the constitution of the commission.
Talking to media representatives, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said that a committee headed by the Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been constituted to identify the government officials involved in irregularities in the elections.
The Chief Minister said that holding local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s responsibility. He said that if all parties agree, they are ready for re-polling in the province.
Khattak also urged the opposition to come to the negotiating table, the way they been demanding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to sit and talk in the past.
On the other hand, the tripartite alliance of opposition parties which includes Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have rejected constitution of the judicial commission and demanded holding of fresh election.
The opposition insisted that it will go ahead with its shutter down strike plan from Wednesday till the resignation of the PTI-led provincial government and re-election in the province.
