ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday declared a last week’s by-election for a National Assembly (NA) seat in a Sialkot constituency as null and void and ordered the government to hold re-election on March 18.
The commission on Saturday stopped the initial results of the NA-75 (Sialkot-IV) by-election — a seat in Daska Tehsil of the city which fell vacant after the demise of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP Sahibazada Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah in August — a day after polling was held, suspecting vote fraud.
In a press statement, the ECP said it had suspected that the results of 20 polling stations in the constituency had been falsified because it received the results of the constituency with “unnecessary delay”.
A short verdict, announced on an application of PML-N candidate Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, ordered re-election in the constituency because “conducive environment was not available for the candidates and voters and the election had not been conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in a transparent manner.”
“On the day of the election, chaos was spread in the entire constituency,” it read.
The order was issued using the powers conferred on the ECP under Article 218 (3) of the Constitution and Article 19 (1) of the Election Act, 2017.
A detailed verdict will be issued later, the commission said.
VERDICT EXPOSED ‘CONSPIRACY’: PML-N
Hailing the ECP order, the PML-N said it “exposed” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s conspiracy to rig the election.
In a tweet, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz said: “The people of Daska have gotten back their right.”
شکر الحمدُللّہ! ڈسکہ کے عوام کا حق انکو واپس مل گیا۔جعلی صادق و امین کو ووٹ چور کی سند جاری۔ بکسہ چوری کی تصدیق۔ ووٹ چور عمران خان اغوا کار بھی نکلا! pic.twitter.com/flDyhH2zs2
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 25, 2021
“Vote thief Imran Khan also turned out to be a kidnapper,” she alleged.
In another tweet, Maryam said the echo of her father and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s narrative of “vote ko izzat do (honour the vote)” was being heard “throughout the country”.
Her spokesperson, Muhammad Zubair, told the media that the government has been caught red-handed and that even the ECP was surprised by the ruling party’s tactics.
Painting PM Imran has the frontman for the alleged conspiracy, Zubair said that the atmosphere on voting day was unconducive for the voters, and cited the incident in which two workers had lost their lives while another three were injured.
However, it is pertinent to mention that the reports confirmed that one of the slain party workers, Majid, belonged to the ruling PTI.
PML-N candidate Iftikhar termed the decision as a “historic” one and thanked her voters for casting their ballots despite being beaten by batons and sticks.
“This is a historic decision which has set an example for coming elections,” she said. “I congratulate people of NA-75 whose battle I fought.
Meanwhile, the government said it would wait for the detailed order and to decide its future course of action.
In a meeting with reporters, Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz said that the order was a victory for the government, as it proved the commission was independent of political influence.
He maintained that all the by-elections held recently were free of any influence as per the PTI’s manifesto and the government is also making efforts to hold the forthcoming Senate elections through open balloting.
Faraz said that the ECP should announce the result of by-polls in NA-75 Daska. He stressed that the present government is going to introduce an electronic voting system in the country to ensure transparency.
Meanwhile, PTI senior leader Muhammad Usman Dar on Thursday said that the opposing PML-N orchestrated a propaganda campaign to make the NA-75 by-polls controversial.
Talking to media outside the ECP office in the federal capital, he maintained the PML-N’s propaganda was meant to demoralise the PTI workers as it knew that they (PML-N) had lost the election in Daska.
He said that it was an unprecedented decision in the history of the country, which exemplified the truth that the state institutions were completely independent.
Dar added that in the past the PML-N, especially Hamza Shehbaz, used to influence the by-elections by sitting in the particular constituencies.
He said that the PML-N did not claim rigging in those constituencies where they won the by-elections such as Nowshera and Wazirabad.
Interestingly enough, on the day of the so-called rigging, PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz shared videos which she claimed were proof of the vote theft. The videos, shared on Twitter, were not limited merely Daska.
The PTI leader said that they would discuss the order of ECP with their legal team, adding the detailed decision was yet to come.
Earlier, referring to the uproar of PML-N on NA-75 by-polls results, Dar said that it had designed a “storyboard” of rigging to strengthen its anti-state narrative.
He said that the political role of Maryam had been fully exposed as she blamed the state institutions for her party’s apparent defeat in the Daska by-polls. She was trying to make the state institutions controversial to get the results of her own choice, he added.
He also said that the PTI lawyer had submitted before the ECP evidence that the PML-N candidate Nosheen Iftikhar had no objection to the results of 337 polling stations of the Daska by-polls.
Dar maintained that the PML-N’s demand for reelection in the entire constituency was incomprehensible. First, they called for opening 23 polling stations in the middle of the night and then the next day their demand relegated to 20 polling stations, he said.
With regard to the disappearance of the ECP staff from the constituency on the election day, the PTI leader said that the returning officer (RO) had admitted in the affidavit that neither they were disappeared nor were abducted rather they were late due to certain reasons.
He said out of 20 polling stations, results of six were even endorsed by the PML-N. The ROs had also been saying the same, he added.
Furthermore, he stated that if the Punjab government had used any state machinery in the by-polls, the results of the Wazirabad election would not have been as they were.
Dar stressed Prime Minister Imran always advocated for the free and fair elections, recalling his party’s struggle for the opening of four constituencies where it claimed that the elections of 2013 were not fair.
He said that PM Imran alone had made an offer for re-polling in 20 polling stations. The past regimes had not shown such moral courage, he added.
He said that he was confident that the decision of ECP would prove in favour of PTI’s stance. The party would accept the ECP decision, he added.
PTI candidate from Daska, Ali Asjad Malhi, said that he had gained 50,000 more votes in the by-polls as compared to the previous elections.
