ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of alleged violation of code of conduct by Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday warned that it would issue a show-cause notice for the minister’s disqualification if he is found violating the code of conduct while campaigning for PML-N candidate Kulsoom Nawaz for NA-120 by-poll.
The ECP directed the minister to submit reply on the matter by September 7. The election for NA-120 constituency is scheduled to be held on September 17.
A two-member ECP bench headed by issued warning while hearing a complaint filed by an election monitoring team against the alleged violation of code of conduct by Bilal Yasin, who was elected as an MNA from NA-120 on a PML-N ticket in the 2008 general elections. The CEC expressed annoyance over Bilal Yasin and his counsel’s absence during the hearing. The CEC said the PML-N has been treating the code of conduct frivolously and observed that violation of the code by the ruling party would give licence to others to do the same practice. Earlier, the ECP had issued notices to Pervaiz Malik, Bilal Yasin, Majid Zahoor and Capt (r) Safdar (son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif), for using state machinery and violating the ECP’s code of conduct while campaigning for Kulsoom Nawaz in NA-120, Lahore.
Published in Daily Times, September 6th 2017.
