ECP warns KP Anti Corruption over illegal election inquiry

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared an inquiry illegal and unconstitutional conducted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) against the presiding officers of PK-79, who managed the affairs in 2024 general elections.

It warned that the decision to carry out the inquiry should be withdrawn; otherwise, the ACE director general would be summoned in his personal capacity.

Asking the provincial chief secretary, Shahab Ali Shah, to intervene, the ECP in a letter dated 12-09-2025 said the ACE director general had issued notices to the presiding officers of PK-79 — a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituency in Peshawar — which was tantamount to interfering in the powers of election tribunals.

The move was also an attempt to influence the matter under review by an election tribunal, the country’s top electoral body told the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary.

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In this connection, the ECP made it clear that Saleem Taimur Jhagra — a former finance minister in the PTI’s provincial government who contested the election as an independent — had already challenged the result in the election tribunal.

Meanwhile, the letter also explains the election process.

It says the presiding officers deputed for election duties fall directly under the ECP as detailed in the Election Act 2017 and the ACE inquiry is a clear abuse of powers.

SHOWERING PRAISE

On the other hand, Brig (retd) Musaddiq Abbasi, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s advisor on anti-corruption, in a video message said the ACE had received complaints about election rigging by the presiding officers.

They had summoned the said presiding officers after reviewing the rules and laws, he argued.

Meanwhile, Abbasi also claimed that the presiding officers said in their statements that there was a clear differences in the Form-45 issued by the ECP and those of them.

Paying tributes to the presiding officers, Abbasi demanded that the ECP should expedite the process in the tribunals so that all the problems could be resolved.

REMOVE ACE CHIEF

In a separate but related development, the Provincial Management Service (PMS) Officers Association demanded the removal of ACE director general through a letter addressed to the chief secretary.

However, Abbasi extending complete support to the ACE chief has asked the chief secretary to award a prize to him for what he called better performance.