Caretaker Punjab CM breaks election code.
Despite the fact that ECP rules only allow the caretaker government to deal with day-to-day business, Naqvi attends the groundbreaking ceremony for Bab-e-Pakistan.
Mohsin Naqvi, the interim chief minister of Punjab, is accused of breaking the election code of conduct by attending Bab-e-groundbreaking Pakistan’s ceremony on Saturday. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) norms, a caretaker setup is not permitted to carry out such acts.
The Election Act of 2017 categorically limits a caretaker setup to solely managing the incumbent government’s day-to-day operations and supporting the ECP.
According to Article 230 C of the Election Act 2017, a caretaker government would only engage in regular, uncontroversial, urgent, public interest activities that might be reversed by the next administration that is elected following the elections.
In an interview with The Express Tribune, Information Secretary Ali Nawaz Malik argued that the Bab-e-Pakistan project belonged in the Central Business District and was, “by all means,” a provincial enterprise.
Malik disputed that it was a foundation stone-laying ceremony when asked how the caretaker administration could do so given that the act forbade such ceremonies.
The information secretary insisted that the project was “quite old” and not new when informed that the PM Office had referred to it as a ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for Bab-e-Pakistan and the upgrading of Walton Road.
According to Malik, it was merely a continuation of a project that had already been started, and such ceremonies fell under the scope of the caretaker government.
It’s interesting to note that the ceremony of Bab-e-Pakistan was a “sheer violation” of the election statute and unlawful, according to Punjab Advocate General Ahmad Awais.
He predicted that the case would eventually go to court and added that a caretaker setup had no place in such situations.
The Punjab caretaker set-up, which was clearly adopting the line of the federal government, which also intended to delay the elections despite constitutional restrictions, claimed that the prevailing peace and order situation was not favourable for elections and had been asking extra time for the purpose.
It’s interesting to note that the caretaker setup’s sole legal responsibility was to aid the ECP in staging free and fair elections.
The Bab-e-Pakistan project was started by the former caretaker chief minister Ghulam Haider Wayn, according to former caretaker chief minister Hasan Askari, who also informed The Express Tribune that the Punjab caretaker administration lacked the authority to engage on projects with financial repercussions.
Askari described the inaugural ceremony on Saturday as a “illegal conduct if it is a provincial project.”
According to him, the ECP act had been broken, and the election supervisor could take cognizance of the situation.
But after examining their (ECP’s) most recent actions, it is reasonable to anticipate that they would keep a blind eye towards the situation.
Any party, he said, might formally file a complaint about the situation with the ECP.
