The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday termed allegations of rigging in the November 23 by-elections, particularly in NA-18 Haripur, as “baseless”.
By-elections were held earlier this month for six National Assembly seats and seven Punjab Assembly seats. The PML-N field its candidates in all seats except a provincial one in Muzaffargarh, and was victorious in all 12 of them. However, the opposition party PTI alleged rig and leader Asad Qaiser rejected the results.
“As usual, certain specific elements are leveling baseless allegations to make the recent by-elections (particularly NA-18 Haripur) controversial. These allegations include portraying the appointment of District Returning Officer (DRO) and Returning Officer (RO) in NA-18 Haripur as a conspiracy,” the election regulator said in a statement.
Terming such claims “completely contrary to facts”, the ECP explained that due to staff shortage during the general elections, it was not possible for the Commission to appoint RO and DRO itself. However, in the by-elections, appointments were made as needed.
“In this by-election also, Commission officials who were already posted in the same area were appointed as DRO and RO,” the ECP said.
“As per the Election Act 2017, this is the fully legal authority of the Commission, and the Election Commission has always appointed DROs and ROs using this authority,” he added.
DRO and RO appointments are made well before the polling day and there were no objections from any quarter till the polling day, according to the ECP. “These accusations are made only after losing the elections.”
Furthermore, the ECP said there were several forums to resolve disputes after the elections were over. “If the RO had refused to receive any application, the person concerned should have approached the Election Commission, but this was not done.”
Similarly, the statement added, “to stop consolidation or request a recount after the elections, the first forum is the RO, and if the RO does not act, the Commission must be approached within the prescribed period, but this was also not done.”
The Commission detailed that the allegation that Form-45 was prepared in advance is also incorrect, because “all the chairmen and support staff were taken from the provincial administration.”
“If the Election Commission had desired, it could have appointed employees of federal institutions posted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as chairpersons,” ECP said. “Staff provided by the provincial administration delivered the electoral bags and results to the RO office after the elections, and the security personnel were also from the provincial government.”
The goal of repeating the same unfounded accusations after each election, the ECP stated in its statement, “is only to sow doubts about the electoral process.”
“If any party has objections to the results, the proper forum is the Electoral Tribunal (which is already operational) where an election petition can be filed, instead of making allegations in the media,” the ECP said, adding that the Commission, even in these by-elections, “has taken action strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law and will continue to do so.”
