Taking notice of the allegations levelled by former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan against it, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) the record of Imran’s speeches he has delivered at the party’s public gatherings held in different cities in recent days in connection with campaign for the by-elections to be held on 20 Punjab Assembly seats two days from now, on July 17, 2022, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday. 

Quoting its sources, the channel reported that in a letter to the PEMRA chairman, the ECP had asked him to provide the record of former prime minister’s speeches which he had made at Layyah, Bhakkar and Khushab.  

They added that the commission would then go through contents of these speeches and ask the PTI chairman to explain his position with respect to his claims. 

Although Imran has been critical of the ECP’s role for some time now, but lately he has become more blunt and started attacking the institution more openly as in one of his speeches yesterday, he accused the chief election commissioner of secretly meeting with PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz in order to rig the by-polls to be held on the Punjab Assembly seats.  

Similarly, the commission, in its letter, has also sought from the PEMRA chairman the record of PTI leader Fayyazul Hassan Chohan’s interview given to a private news channel in which he, too, accused it of becoming a party to the by-elections by supporting the PML-N.

Reporter: Usman Khan