'Set such institutions afire': Swati blasts Election Commission

ISLAMABAD: Federal Railways Minister Azam Swati blasted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Friday accusing it of taking kickbacks.

“ECP has taken bribe,” Azam Swati alleged. “You will go to hell,” he said, pointing to ECP officials who were in attendance in the meeting called to deliberate and vote on two key bills on the use of electronic voting machines in elections and voting rights for overseas Pakistanis.

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“Such institutions should be set afire,” he went on, alleging that the commission was involved in rigging all elections and destroying Pakistan’s democracy. Angry over his rant, the ECP representatives got up and walked out of the meeting.

On the directives of the chair, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan and Senator Kamran Murtaza later went out to mollify the ECP officials but to no avail.

The commission’s special secretary refused to return to the meeting and left the Parliament House.

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“Ministers misbehaved at a meeting at President House the other day and today, serious allegations were levelled against the Election Commission. We cannot attend the meeting in such an atmosphere,” he raged.

The opposition members of the committee also objected to Swati’s accusations. PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar asked Swati to spell out who the ECP has taken bribe from.