While the opposition is yet to find a way out of its labyrinths, Prime Minister Imran Khan is already in full election mode. He is holding meetings, addressing public rallies, launching projects and promising development schemes. He is determined to defeat the opposition in local government elections in various provinces in coming months and win the general elections through all means, fair or foul. Warning whosoever might be interested in talking to his “corrupt” competitors, Khan has declared that his government will never make peace with the looters.
The PM’s schedule of public contacts began this month from his Peshawar visit. Disregarding the ECP’s advice not to visit Peshawar after the announcement of the LG election schedule, the urge to win the provincial LG elections led him to announce welfare projects worth billions of rupees besides scholarships and honoraria for students and clerics. Two days later he was in Karachi to inaugurate the Green Line Bus Service. Here he promised to complete the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme project in 14-15 months. On Saturday Khan was in Mianwali to inaugurate multiple development projects. As in Peshawar he told the gathering that Pakistan was still the cheapest country in the world and hoped that prices would come down further within three to four months. On Monday he was in Lahore on a vote catching campaign where he launched health insurance for Punjab. The PM is within his rights to launch development projects as long as he does not break the rules laid down by the ECP.
Meanwhile the PM is adamant about introducing EVMs and an electronic voting system for Pakistan-origin expatriates that he believes will overwhelmingly vote for the PTI. PM’s Law Adviser Dr Babar Awan has asked the ECP to “show” seriousness by setting timelines for implementation of electoral reforms-related legislation. After bulldozing amendments to the Elections Act 2017, the government is now pressurizing the ECP. The ECP has already formed three separate committees to ascertain how it could use EVMs in the 2023 general elections by addressing its own concerns. There is a need to let these committees work independently instead of trying to coerce them.
