The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 on Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan, and other party leaders.
The fine was imposed on them for violating the code of conduct issued for the upcoming by-elections by participating in a rally in Peshawar despite the commission’s warning.
On September 6, PTI held a rally in the provincial capital Immediately after Imran’s arrival on stage, YouTube’s access in the country appeared blocked or greatly slowed down.
Following the violation, District Monitoring Officer (DMO), Peshawar, Shahabuddin, had served notices to Khan, the Chief Minister and others, seeking an explanation. They appeared before the DMO and submitted written replies.
However, the DMO deemed the reply unsatisfactory and imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on each of the leaders, directing them to deposit the fine to the state exchequer by September 18.
It is pertinent to mention that a day before the Peshawar rally, the DMO had asked PTI not to attend the rally and warned of legal action.
Another PTI rally is scheduled to be held in Charsadda on September 17 and for that, the commission sent letters to the KP governor and chief minister asking them not to attend it.
This is not the first time that a fine has been imposed on PTI leaders. In March, ECP slapped a fine of Rs50,000 on Imran Khan, CM Mahmood Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and others for violating the code of conduct as they all attended a public gathering in Swat on March 16 ahead of the no-confidence motion.
