The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has ordered the removal of caretaker Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Transport Minister Shahid Khattak from the provincial cupboard for violating the election code of behavior.
In a declaration on its respectable Twitter handle issued overdue Saturday, the ECP stated interim K-P Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan has been directed to do away with the minister.
The electoral body said the motion became taken towards the minister after it discovered via media reports that Khattak addressed a political rally (of the Awami National Party) in Nowshera.
According to other reviews, the caretaker provincial transport minister had participated in a assembly of the ANP within the previous couple of days, the pics of which went viral on social media.
Earlier, the K-P provincial election commissioner had sought a record on the participation and speech of the caretaker minister at a public meeting.
The ECP spokesperson emphasised that it became essential for all incumbent governments to stick to the law and offer complete cooperation to the fee so that you can ensure honest, obvious, and independent elections.
“The fee can’t furnish permission to any incumbent government or minister to participate in any electoral marketing campaign.”
In case of violation, the spokesperson said, criminal motion might be taken.
He said the commission took these steps to make sure that the authorities assets have been not utilised in election campaigning for you to pave the way for truthful elections.
Meanwhile, the caretaker delivery minister issued his detailed stance concerning his participation inside the meeting held in Nowshera.
In the information issued from Bacha Khan Centre in Peshawar, the intervening time provincial minister said, “I am a minister in the caretaker cupboard of the province. It changed into now not a political collecting at my residence however a reception for neighborhood leaders and elders in which the elders supplied public troubles in the regular open court.”
Khattak said that an attempt became made to create a misunderstanding by using reporting the assembly inside the media of the reception of the elders and the open courtroom as a public amassing.
“The public amassing are held in the fields and no longer in homes. The undertaking of the caretaker authorities is to behavior honest and impartial elections. The Election Commission and the election regulations have constantly been reputable.”
The caretaker minister stated, “Anyone who has devoted corruption must be held to account without discrimination.
“I even have a principled stand on corruption in diverse initiatives consisting of the Peshawar BRT, and I will not give up my stand against corruption.”