Railways Minister Swati levels serious allegations against ECP of taking bribes

Islamabad September 10 (Online): Officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) walked out of a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs after Railways Minister Azam Swati levelled serious allegations against the Commission of ‘taking bribes’.

The debate on the usage of electronic voting machines for the next general elections turned hostile on Friday when a session of the committee was held under the chair of Senator Taj Haider.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said the government will not decide which machine will be used for voting.
“This will be decided by the election commission,” he said. “Dr Babar Awan wrote a letter to the ECP, asking whether it needed a budget.

Awan said the ministry had written to the ECP, asking whether it needed a budget, security or storage to hold the elections. “The ECP did not respond to the letter,” he lamented.

It was then that a livid Azam Swati accused the ECP of taking money from companies that make electronic voting machines, said a source present in the meeting.

The Opposition senators said that Swati cannot accuse a constitutional body of taking bribes, and asked the senator to provide proof to back his claim.

Swati then added that such institutions conduct all elections through rigging and should be burned down. At this, the ECP officials walked out in protest.

After the meeting was disrupted, Senator Farooq H Naek lashed out at Swati, saying that the ECP should be removed from the Constitution and the government should conduct the elections itself.