ECP notice to Khan for voting in public

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued a notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for voting publicly at his NA-53 constituency and in front of the cameras, which is a violation of the electoral body's code of conduct, reported The Dawn.

The PTI party earlier rubbished reports of its chairman Imran Khan's vote at NA-53 seat being null and void.

In a statement, the PTI said that Khan did not violate any election rules. Furthermore, it also hit out at the ECP of not discharging its function to curb the spread of unverified media reports.

The Express News earlier reported that Khan was captured on video while casting his vote.

Failure to maintain the secrecy of vote leads to a punishment of six months in jail and a fine of 1,000 Pakistani rupees, according to Section 185 of the Election Act 2017, The Dawn reported.

Earlier, the ECP stated that the media discussions pertaining to Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif were a violation code of conduct.

Show-cause notices to various news channels have been issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), and representatives of the channels now have to submit written replies and appear for a hearing on July 31.

Earlier in the day, the PEMRA had directed private TV channels to stop airing any content related to the country's general election.

According to The Dawn, this step was taken after PEMRA received concerns from the ECP regarding violations committed by private satellite TV channels.

The voting in Pakistan, which is observing a public holiday today, began at 8 a.m (local time) and will continue till 6 p.m.