As the country is inching closer to the presidential elections, an election commissioner, Mawlana Abdullah, on Thursday, said some individuals close to President Ashraf Ghani are “interfering” in the affairs of the Independent Election Commission but he said that the president himself is not meddling in their activities.

As an example, he said, part of the interference is done in the appointments of the election commission. “There is enough evidence to prove this,” he said.

“When an employee becomes successful, his application form is delayed for months and it is not processed and no one is there to tackle it, but those who are fired from the commission, their appointment is signed in a few days. Sometimes the recommendations are sent to the Presidential Palace secretly and the appointment orders are issued in just two or three days,” Abdullah explained.

Abdullah said that those members of the commission who are accused of fraud and corruption should be sent to judicial institutions.

“Some permanent employees and contractors of the commission should be sent to the judicial institutions and some should be removed from the commission,” he said.

  Abdullah claimed that presidential candidates are trying to influence the election commission.