Rigging Probe: Sub-committee of parliamentary body to meet today

ISLAMABAD: Sub-committee of a body, formed to probe into the alleged rigging in 2018 General Elections, is scheduled to meet today in Islamabad, ARY News reported on Monday.

The meeting will be chaired by the Federal Minister of Education, Shafqat Mehmood at the Parliament house.

During the meeting terms of reference (ToRs) tabled by the opposition will be reviewed today while government is also expected to present its suggestions into the matter, said sources privy to the matter.

Earlier on November 7, a 30-member parliamentary committee had unanimously appointed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Pervez Khattak to chair the committee formed in order to probe into the alleged rigging in 2018 General Polls.

During the meeting, Pervez Khattak’s name for the head of the committee was proposed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Naveed Qamar, a role which was assumed by the federal minister immediately, as no objections were raised against his election.

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 would 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 were part of the committee.

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

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