Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi has demanded proof from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding his so-called visits polling stations other than where he had cast his vote during the cantonment board elections.
The above was said on Twitter in response to the District Election Commissioner East Amin Bashir Ali Qureshi ordering law enforcement agencies for the expulsion of the minister from the NA-244 Karachi East-III constituency “on account of visiting the constituency as reported by the monitoring constituted by the Election Commission of Pakistan for the transparent, free and fair elections”.
“…He is creating problems [for] the voters and the code of conduct does not permit him to visit the constituency till culmination of election process,” the order stated.
“Challenge the ECP to show me one polling station that I visited today, EXCEPT THE ONE WHERE I CASTED MY VOTE and I will resign as Federal Minister and even as MNA,” Zaidi wrote on Twitter, while attaching a copy of the orders.
“Can the District East Election Commissioner Amin Qureshi show the same courage and issue a public apology if proven wrong?” he asked.
Voting took place today in 41 cantonment boards across Pakistan, with 1,560 candidates contesting against each other in 206 wards, Geo News reported.
The polling began at 8 am and continued till 5 pm.
According to Geo News, seven candidates have been elected unopposed; election will not take place in Kamra Cantonment Board and polls have been postponed in one ward in Rawalpindi and Pano Aqil each.
Most of the candidates — 684 — are independent while as many as 876 belong to different political parties. The ruling PTI has fielded the most candidates — 183.
Similarly, PML-N has fielded 144, PPP 113, JI 104, banned TLP 83, MQM-P 42, PSP 35, PML-Q 34, and JUI-F 25 candidates.
Earlier in the day, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi announced that Port Qasim will gift hybrid buses to the University of Karachi, Dow University of Health Sciences, SMC and NED University.
Talking to journalists, Ali Zaidi said that the government will launch a new bus service between Port Qasim and the Karachi Port Trust to facilitate the employees and people. In order to resolve the traffic issue in the metropolis, the minister said that they would construct bridges to ensure free flow of traffic.
Responding to a question, Ali Zaidi said the government will not allow KPT land to be leased for pennies. Talking about port affairs, he said past governments had neglected the sector, adding that an internal audit of the department had not been conducted since 2010.
Highlighting the importance of ports, the minister said that the economy of any country depends on them. The entire coastal area has been encroached in Karachi, he added. The minister said that KPT is already facing an administrative crisis.
The minister announced the government’s move to launch a new company named Pakistan Maritime Services under a public-private partnership mode. The company will do business in local currency, he added.
