• ECP has appointed Ms Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima as the new spokesperson
• She was currently serving as Director Media Coordination and Outreach
• She replaced Haroon Khan Shinwari who was dissed earlier this week

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has appointed Ms Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima as the new spokesperson of the electoral commission.

She was currently serving as Director Media Coordination and Outreach in the commission. According to a notification, Qurat-ul-Ain Fitma has replaced Additional Director General (Monitoring and Evaluation) Haroon Khan Shinwari.

Haroon Shinwari was dismissed after he made a controversial statement on the dissolution of assemblies as announced by PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja expressed displeasure at the spokesperson for issuing the ‘premature’ statement.

CEC reprimanded the ECP spokesperson and rejected his explanation. He ordered to immediately remove him from his post. The Chief Election Commissioner also stopped the commission’s media wing from giving unnecessary reactions to the political situation.

The ECP had denied issuing any official statement concerning the by-elections of national and provincial assemblies in case of the resignations of PTI.

The ECP spokesman was asked about the law, rules and expenditures to be incurred on holding the by-elections in case PTI quit the legislative assemblies.

He replied that the ECP will hold by-elections on the vacant seats if PTI members resign from the assemblies rather than holding fresh elections.

He added holding by-election in a provincial constituency cost between Rs 50-70 million and cost between Rs,80-100 million for a National Assembly constituency. He said the by-elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies will cost nearly Rs.22 billion.

However, the ECP spokesperson recanted his statement and lamented that his answers to the queries were reported ‘out of context.’

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