By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan said on Sunday that it had ordered an inquiry into reports of vote buying in a parliamentary constituency in Lahore, where the opponent parties are locked in a fierce contest.
The commission said in a statement that it had directed the provincial election commissioner of Punjab, the country’s most populous province, to form a committee to investigate the allegations of “vote purchase” in NA-127, a seat that is being contested by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Attaullah Tarar, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The commission said that it had sought a prompt submission of a comprehensive report on the alleged vote buying from the provincial election commissioner.
The commission also instructed the chief secretary of Punjab to take action against those responsible for an attack on the PPP’s office in the same constituency on Sunday, which the party blamed on the PML-N workers.
The PPP said that Tarar and his supporters had stormed into its office and harassed and abducted some of its workers, accusing them of distributing money to voters in exchange for their identity cards and pledges to vote for Bhutto-Zardari.
Tarar denied the allegations and said that he had gone to the PPP’s office to expose their “corrupt practices” of buying votes. He claimed that he had found cash counting machines, iPads, identity card copies and receipts in the office, and had handed them over to the police.
The PML-N’s president, Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, condemned the PPP’s alleged vote buying and said that it was an insult to the democratic process.
The commission said that it had taken “serious notice of the attack” on the PPP’s office and had considered the initial report submitted by the police.
It also directed the authorities to take strict action under the law against the accused persons involved in the incident.
The general elections in Pakistan are scheduled for Feb. 8, and the campaign has been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging, violence and intimidation.
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