Ruling party’s former senator Zafar Ali Shah on Monday reached a local polling station to cast vote in local body (LB) polls and threatened staff for resistance over duplicate identity card.
Shah reached ward six of Union Council-30 (UC) to cast his vote in the first ever LB elections in the federal capital. However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member expected the staffers to let him off the hook over ‘simple’ formalities.
As the staff demanded national identity card (CNIC) from the ruling party’s supporter, he pulled out a duplicate copy. The polling staff resisted allowing him to cast vote with NIC’s copy.
The politically influential person was obviously not used to hearing ‘no’ as an answer.
Shah lashed out at the staff and threatened them of service terminations. The matter was then given in hands of the Presiding Officer appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The officer did his best to convince the resented politician but efforts were vain.
The politician who is a Constitutional Law expert gave an extensive lecture to the staffers over the law. The polling station officials in bid to avoid adding fuel to the flame surrendered to Shah’s influential status.
Had Shah studied the law with utmost sincerity, he could have avoided the argument and saved his time.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan s spokesperson Naeemul Haq has demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against Shah. He said that no person is above the law.
PTI supporters raised slogans against the former senator for arguing with the polling staff on illegal grounds.
