The bypolls fiasco

It would be quite the understatement to say that the four by-polls held on Friday in four constituencies of the country, two of them National Assembly seats and two others provincial assembly seats, did not go smoothly. The most major problems arose in the NA-75 constituency of Daska, where it was initially believed Nosheen Iftikhar of the PML-N was winning the day. It would also be an understatement that the Election Commission of Pakistan and the local administration botched the management of the by-polls. The conduct of by-polls, or any polls for that matter, has to be above board, impartial and transparent. After a lot of hassle, conflicting claims and counterclaims by contesting candidates and parties, and a flurry of videos, finally on Saturday the ECP acknowledged that it suspected the results of 20 polling stations had been falsified. The PML-N has alleged massive rigging in the by-polls and has made public eyewitness accounts with video footage. The admission of the ECP that it received the results of the NA-75 constituency with ‘unnecessary delay’ after some presiding officers went missing is no consolation. Moreover, these presiding officers not only disappeared with bagsful of votes but also switched their cell phones off. The statement of the chief election commissioner (CEC) is even more revealing as it highlights a lack of response form the Punjab inspector general of police, commissioner, and deputy commissioner when the CEC tried to contact them. The district returning officer (DRO) and returning officers (RO) had informed the CEC about the disappearance of the presiding officers concerned. According to the CEC, even the Punjab chief secretary who initially gave an assurance that the results would be sent after tracing the ‘missing officers’ was not available to the CEC anymore. After a night-long wait, the presiding officers appeared with the polling bags around 6am. On Saturday, Maryam Nawaz spoke with the media and in no uncertain terms mocked the excuses being given for the presiding officers' short-term vanishing act.

The major surprise in the polls came in PK-63 Nowshera, where against the expectations of the PTI at least, the PML-N candidate won the seat with the strong backing of the JUI-F and the PPP. Both PDM parties have a sizable vote in the constituency which had previously been held by the PTI and in the past had been the seat from where Pervez Khattak had won his seat in the assembly. Imran Khan had also campaigned in the constituency and the defeat as such is an embarrassment for the ruling party. There are allegations from party workers that the dispute between Pervez Khattak and his brother, a provincial minister, was one of the reasons for the weak PTI showing in the constituency. The usual pattern in by-polls is for the ruling party to come home victorious, given its influence over voting arrangements and also the desire of people to have a candidate from the ruling party in their constituency.

It is ultimately the responsibility of the ECP to protect the complete record of polling and report it with candid details. Though the ECP has also conceded that the Daska fiasco in particular is a weakness of the administration and law-enforcement agencies, the ECP too must take the issue of the presiding officers very seriously. There is something seriously missing in the system that should bother the political leadership of all parties as well as the ECP and the civil and security administration. A complete forensic audit is in order now. Will we hear from the presiding officers? Or will the fog continue to give cover? For our democracy to survive, we need fair and free elections at all levels. The results show that the PTI still has a great deal to do to gain an overall sense of popularity in the country. The incidents in Daska are extremely unfortunate and have put the ECP in a difficult situation. We must hope it is possible to unravel the mystery of the missing officers and sort out the results.