Rigging Probe: Parliamentary committee to meet tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Committee formed to probe alleged rigging in General Elections 2018, will hold its maiden meeting at Parliament House tomorrow, ARY NEWS reported on Tuesday.

The meeting to be chaired by the Secretary National Assembly, will elect chairman of the probe committee.

It may be recalled that the government has already nominated Defence Minister, Pervez Khattak as the chairman of the parliamentary committee, probing alleged rigging in General Elections 2018.

On October 15. the government announced the formation of “Parliamentary Committee on General Elections 2018” to probe alleged rigging in the general elections after hue and cry of the opposition.

The committee comprises thirty parliamentarians including 21 members from the lower house, [National Assembly] and nine from the upper house, [Senate]. According to a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the parliamentary committee will be responsible for finalising the Terms of Reference (ToRs) to initiate probe into allegations of rigging.

Pervez Khattak, Shafqat Mehmood, Shireen Mazari, Fawad Chaudhry, Amir Dogar, Khalid Magsi, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Amin-ul-Haq, and Tariq Cheema are among the members of the government who are part of the committee.

While Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanvir Hussain, Ahsan Iqbal, Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Rana Sanaullah will represent the opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the committee.

Former leader of opposition Khursheed Shah, Naveed Qamar and Raja Pervez Ashraf will represent the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the committee.

Former chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ameer Haider Khan Hoti from the Awami National Party (ANP) and Abdul Wasay of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) are also members of the committee.

Earlier in month of September, the government had agreed to form a special committee of the National Assembly to probe allegations of rigging in the July 25 general elections. The decision was taken after both sides took a step back from their stated positions over its composition.