As Pakistan moves towards strengthening democracy and governance structures in the country, especially the parliament -- there are some valid questions that are being raised about the authenticity of the democratic process in the country, especially the one we witnessed in these last elections that took place on May 11, 2013.

While the elections were considered a landmark achievement in the political history of Pakistan, as they brought in the first smooth democratic transition of power from one government to another -- the voting process itself has become a controversial issue, and even a year after May, 2013 one of the biggest parties, which emerged as the third political force -- the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has called the elections a grand conspiracy of keeping his party from winning a majority.

But many have questioned Imran Khan’s demands and rigging allegations which have come at a time when civil-military tensions have been quite visible, in light of the trial of General Musharraf, relations with India and the security policy with regards to the tribal belt region next to Af-Pak border.

"Making a weak government more vulnerable by using the clutches of the Pakistani military is no longer acceptable by other mainstream political parties that were in power or in opposition in the 1990s. The PTI wasn’t there at all at that time. And so the lesson the other political parties have learnt has not been grasped by the PTI yet," says Babar Sattar, a Pakistani lawyer and a columnist for a leading newspaper in Pakistan.

Sattar feels that even though politicians are always looking for an opportunity to raise their profile or popularity, what Khan is doing is wrong. "What if civil-military relations improve? Where will Khan stand then?" he adds.

Also, observers feel that this distrust about the electoral process is justified and there was some level of fraud in the elections, but it wasn’t so much that the results could be swayed in favour of one party over the other. "The top leadership of PTI should be rational. Such problems happen in every constituency but the scale isn’t so much that it would have brought the PTI into power," Sattar adds.

But the criticism of electoral reforms is not just a political issue, and it cannot be entirely blamed on being orchestrated at the behest of non-democratic forces in the country.

According to independent 2013 election observers like the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), there were serious issues with the way the election process was carried out last May. For Fafen, most of the issues have come to light because of the ineffective and powerless role of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

"The way the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) became a powerless position, who had to listen to the provincial commissioners was one of the main problems. While the media and the political parties focused on the CEC, there should have been scrutiny of the provincial chiefs of ECP. Also, returning and presiding officers, who are not direct staffs of ECP did not do their jobs well and yet no action was taken against them, even when irregularities were found in the voting process. Also, for the voter verification process, which the ECP is bound to carry out -- there had to be collaboration with National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). But Nadra did not cooperate as much as ECP wanted it to -- since Nadra was not made answerable to ECP," says Sahibzada Saud, Director of Election Oversight, Research and Reforms at Fafen.

According to Saud, the demands by different political stakeholders, especially the PTI for an electoral reform is a need of the today. "Significant and substantial changes need be made to the functioning of ECP and an independence accorded that other autonomous state institutions like the judiciary enjoy. Currently, ECP’s role is more of a bystander in the actual election process," Saud adds.

Currently, the CEC position at ECP is vacant, which is another issue that Fafen observer highlights. "While the method to choose the CEC with consultations from parties not in power is now being exercised, there is no time limit to reach this consensus. And this loophole is creating further issues with the credibility and image of ECP as an independent organisation. Also, any change in ECP rules and regulations have to be approved by the President of Pakistan, even if they are functional issues which restricts the power of the CEC and gives critics further opportunity to criticise the commission’s independence," Saud explains.

Fafen will soon be releasing a document on electoral reforms, which Saud feels can be a guidebook for the parliament.

A recent Fafen report that focuses on complaints made by political parties to election tribunals for the May 11 election paints a dismal picture of the ECP’s performance.

For example, it states, "the election tribunals established by the Election Commission of Pakistan have fallen behind the legally-stipulated deadline to dispose of petitions in 124 out of 126 pending cases".

Interestingly, most of the petitions (99) were filed by independent candidates, followed by the PML-N (the current ruling party) which filed 66 petitions. The PTI members filed 58 petitions, while the last ruling party, the PPP, filed 50 petitions.

However, it appears that before the 2013 elections, there was a need to address the myriad loopholes in the electoral process but the mainstream political parties, which were in power at that time, were comfortable with the token changes they made.

"The reforms that needed to be carried out were never paid any attention to. Instead, the leading parties of the time came up with a system that suited them and used this issue as a political bargain to fulfill their other demands. The constitutional amendments that happened during the last government’s rule -- of which a few did pertain to the ECP, did not improve the structural issues of ECP that still exist today," Saud adds.

However, he feels due to Khan’s drive for electoral reforms and complaints by other political parties, there is an ‘urge’ for improvement before the next elections, scheduled for 2017.

"But earlier, there were only two main parties and now with the emergence of the PTI as a third force to reckon with, reaching a consensus maybe even more difficult," he adds.

Also, observers feel that Imran Khan, who is currently organising mass protest gatherings around the country which he has been referring to as a movement for electoral reforms, should refrain from such agitational politics. "There is the parliament where Khan can take up these issues. His party is now part of the parliamentary process and that is a better forum than the streets, if he really wants to improve the democratic system," Babar Sattar, the lawyer concludes.