According to police, three assailants intercepted 65-year-old Hussain as she stepped out off her car outside her house in Karachi’s DHA Phase-IV area.

“The suspects attempted to snatch her purse… they shot her after she put up resistance,” said SP Clifton Division Nasir Aftab, quoting the slain PTI leader’s driver. The suspects fled the scene following the incident, he added.

Hussain’s family immediately rushed her to a nearby private hospital.

“She received a single bullet to her chin which pierced her neck. She succumbed to her injuries during treatment,” a doctor at the health facility told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. Hussain’s body was later moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities.

Party leaders confirmed Hussain’s death.

Targeted killing or mugging?

By the time this report was filed, police were still unclear about the motive behind Hussain’s murder. “Nothing could be said about the nature of the incident … whether it’s an act of targeted killing or a robbery bid gone awry… till the investigation is complete,” said SP Aftab.

Condemnation

In a statement condemning the incident, PTI chairman Imran Khan held Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and the British government directly responsible for murder of Zahra Shahid Hussain.

“He [Altaf] openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts… Unfortunately, the British Government did nothing to stop his calls to violence,” Khan maintained.

“I am totally shocked and deeply saddened and still cannot believe anyone would kill such a gentle lady,” he added.

PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif was also quick to condemn the incident.

“Strongly condemn the target killing of Mrs Zahra Hussain! Culprits should be apprehended and punished ASAP – this cannot be allowed to go on,” he said on Twitter.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the PTI Media Coordinator Nasir Jamal lashed out at government authorities for failing to provide adequate protection to his party’s leaders and workers in Karachi.

Meanwhile, PML-N leader Salim Zia, who visited the hospital, demanded an independent investigation into the incident by a judge.

Re-polling in NA-250 today

Re-polling in 43 polling stations of NA-250 (Karachi-XII) will take place today (Sunday), amid tight security provided by police, Rangers and army personnel. However, very few political parties will be contesting these re-polls, as the JI declared a boycott on May 11th, while the MQM announced on Friday that they would boycott the re-polls. On Saturday night, the PPP also joined the boycott bandwagon, leaving the field clear for the PTI.

Talking to The Express Tribune on Saturday, Sindh Election Commissioner SM Tariq Qadri said that strict security measures have been taken to avert any attempts at rigging or any other untoward incident.

“I assure voters and candidates that there will be no mismanagement on our part, and free and fair elections will be held in the constituency,” he maintained, adding, “the polls will start at 8am and continue till 5pm without any break.”

Qadri said following concerns by leaders of political parties regarding the credentials of election staff, the Election Commission has appointed new presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers for the re-polls.

“Apart from the district returning officer and returning officers, the entire election staff has been changed,” he said, adding that the colours of the ballots had been switched this time around as well.

“For Sunday’s polls, white ballot paper will be used for the National Assembly seat and green ballot paper will be used for provincial assembly seats… For the May 11 elections, green ballots were used for National and white for provincial assembly seats.”

Qadri maintained the ballot boxes for the re-polls had already been prepared and transported to respective polling stations under the supervision of the armed forces. According to both Army and ECP sources, soldiers will be deployed inside the polling stations.

Re-polls in Tharparkar

ECP has also announced re-polls in 47 polling stations of two National Assembly constituencies in Tharparkar.

According to the official ECP notification on Sunday, the re-polls will be carried out in four polling stations of NA-229 (Tharparkar –I) and 43 polling stations of NA-230 (Tharparkar –II) and its corresponding Sindh Assembly constituencies – PS-62 ((Tharparkar –III) and PS-63 (Tharparkar –IV). The re-polls have been scheduled for June 1.

The commission had earlier decided to withhold the results of NA-229, NA-230, PS-62 and PS-63 following violence and allegations of widespread rigging in the constituencies. The ballot papers of more than 40 polling stations were set ablaze and a worker of a political party was killed during the violence on Election Day.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.

ISLAMABAD: After NA-250 Karachi, where re-polling is scheduled to be held in 43 polling stations on Sunday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday ordered re-polling in two constituencies of Sindh.

The ECP ordered a re-polling in 43 polling stations of NA-230 and four polling stations of NA-229 the second constituency of Tharpaker on June 1, 2013.

Like in NA-250, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Teheek e Insaaf (PTI) is a major stakeholder in NA-230 as well, with its senior vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi contesting from the constituency. On May 11 he was leading the vote count according to initial unofficial results.

Tharparker is the traditional strong hold of the Pakistan Peoples Party and has always been a challenge for any other competing party.

Re-elections will also be held for the corresponding provincial assembly constituencies PS-112 and PS-113.

The ECP directed that the ballot papers for the National Assembly constituency will be white in colour and those for the two provincial assembly constituencies will be light green in order to avoid confusion with the previous ballots.

The ECP had issued notices to the PTI, MQM, Sindh chief secretary and provincial inspector-general of police over petitions to conduct re-elections in the entire constituency.

Taking up the petitions, the poll body rejected MQM counsel Farough Naseem’s plea that since voter turnout at the rest of the polling stations of the constituency remained very low, re-elections should be held in the entire constituency.

“In our opinion, low turnout is no justification to order re-polling. Thus, we see no reason to interfere with our earlier order,” the ECP said.

The order added that the army should be deployed inside and outside all polling stations on May 19 – the day of the re-polls.

The ECP directed the provincial election commissioner to finalise arrangements for re-polls and sent a copy of its order to the military operations directorate of the army headquarters to ensure adequate security in the area on May 19.

“Army personnel may be deployed inside as well as outside the 43 polling stations of that constituency. Army may also provide support to the provincial administration, Rangers and police for maintenance of law and order in Karachi generally on the day of polls under Article 245 of the Constitution” the said.

The Inter Services Public Relations spokesperson in Karachi also said that Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani assured Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim of full support and security for the areas where the re-elections are being held.

“It is yet to be decided whether the personnel will be patrolling inside the polling stations or outside. We are in the process of finalising this mechanism,” he said.

Following the order, Sindh Election Commissioner S M Tariq Qadri has said all polling staff, including presiding officers, their assistants and polling officers have been reshuffled to ensure free and fair re-elections.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Qadri said the district returning officer and returning officer will not be changed.

“The ballot papers will be distributed under the supervision of the army and we have requested the armed forces, police and Rangers to ensure strict security measures,” he said, adding that it was the prerogative of the provincial home department and police to make a decision regarding the deployment of security forces.

He said one presiding officer will be in charge of a polling station whereas two assistant presiding officers and one polling officer will be deputed at each station. “Around 165 polling staff will be engaged in the re-election process,” he added.

MQM to boycott re-elections

After hours of consultations, MQM has announced it will boycott re-elections at 43 polling stations of the NA-250 constituency.

MQM leader Raza Haroon said at a press conference on Friday that the party will not participate in polls. The decision was taken after a meeting of the MQM Coordination Committee in both London and Karachi.

“The decision of the election commission to hold re-polling at only 43 stations out of 180 is unfair and partial. We will not be part of this injustice,” Haroon declared.

He termed the selective re-polling a conspiracy to snatch its mandate.

“Delimitation in the city was the first conspiracy against us. And now polling on only selected polling stations is another conspiracy.”

“Is Punjab Colony, Doli Ghaat and Qayyumabad not a part of NA-250,” he asked.

Haroon said at many polling stations in these areas, voting was not held while in others, voters were not given enough time to cast their votes.

He added that thousands of MQM voters were frustrated at not being able to cast their votes, and would now be deprived again.

Talking about PTI candidate for NA-250, Dr Arif Alvi, Haroon questioned why the ECP did not take notice of his possessing ballot papers. “A candidate possessing elections material would have been disqualified, but this incident went unnoticed by the ECP. I want to ask why?”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.

The re-poll at the same polling stations for the two provincial assembly seats of Sindh, PS-112 and PS-113 that fall under this constituency will also be held, the ECP said.

Polling at 43 polling stations was suspended after reports of large scale anomalies on May 11.

The commission has decided to change the colour of the ballot papers to be used in Sunday’s re-poll to distinguish them from those polling stations whose ballots were recognised as valid. The commission has decided to use white coloured ballot paper for National Assembly and light green for provincial assembly seats.

MQM’s Khushbakht Shujaat, PTI’s Dr. Arif Alvi and JI’s Naimatullah were the main contestants in this constituency.

PTI had been holding protest demonstrations over hooliganism in the area on the polling day. MQM’s Khushbakht Shujaat also demanded re-polling in a press conference the other day. However she wanted re-polling in the whole constituency.

Imran Khan’s PTI claims that it would have easily won from this constituency and few others in the city had there been fair polls.

The unofficial results show that PTI has already made an entry into the Sindh assembly by winning a provincial assembly and is optimistic of winning a couple of more in Sunday’s re-poll. Expect for Balochistan, the PTI will now have a presence in all assemblies with a likely government in KPK where it emerged as the largest party.

The MQM rejected the election commission’s decision of holding elections in 43 polling stations in NA-250, and has called for re-polling in the entire constituency.

In a press conference held on Tuesday, MQM leader Mustafa Kamal said that they would not accept the election commission’s decision. ‘Elections should be held again in the whole of NA-250. In many areas, polling started at 3 in the afternoon because ballot boxes could not reach on time, but the plight of these stations is being ignored by the election commission.’

He also said that re-polling should be conducted in 180 polling stations of PS 112 and PS 113.

Kamal said that elections were held in the whole country, but only Karachi was targeted and criticized throughout. “Voter verification was only carried out in Karachi,” he said. Meanwhile MQM chief Altaf Hussain has also demanded re-elections in NA-250.

A day earlier, the MQM had criticised the PTI’s street protests, and MQM chief Altaf Hussain made a controversial speech about the protestors, which the MQM had to issue a clarification about. At the press conference however, the MQM announced that it would also start a series of demonstrations.

Following the announcement, a number of MQM supporters from Delhi Colony, Punjab Colony, DHA and Clifton reached the provincial election commission, and demanded for elections to be held in the entire constituency.

Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain is said to be unwell and has been advised bed rest by his doctors due to over-exertion because of his strenuous activities during the election campaign.

Responding to the MQM’s call for re-elections in NA-250, Arif Alvi, while speaking at the PTI protest at Native Jetty, questioned why the MQM doesn’t simply call for elections in all of Karachi.

“Why is the MQM afraid? I’ll tell you what it is afraid of. It knows that the PTI will sweep Karachi if free and fair elections are held,” said Alvi. He said that the victory of the PTI candidate in PS-93 is proof that people voted for the party in their thousands and that if the elections were not rigged, the party would have won all the seats.

The ECP has also ordered the recounting of ballots in NA-154 Lodhran on request of PTI candidate Jahangir Khan Tareen. The commission has ordered recount of all the ballot papers polled on election-day in the constituency.

Meanwhile PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, secretary general Mushahid Hussain Syed, PTI’s Jahangir Tarin and Maulana Attaur Rehman the brother of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman visited the ECP headquarters and filed complaints on alleged rigging in certain constituencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2013.

Preliminary meetings, attended by the top echelons of the PML-N have already been held to put these plans into action, sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune.

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has been confined in his Jati Umra residence, brainstorming with the senior party leadership as well as some trusted senior bureaucrats to sketch out a plan of action regarding the future political course of his party.

This is what the plan looks like so far: in Punjab, the PML-N will go solo to form a government as it has a solid two-thirds majority.

The picture in the Centre is also encouraging. Out of the total 272 general seats in the National Assembly, 136 are required to gain the simple majority needed to form a government. The PML-N currently has 130 seats, and only needs six more to secure the prime ministerial slot; certainly not a difficult task, to say the least. According to Senator Tariq Azeem, the PML-N won’t even need to ally with a party to gain these seats, as independents are likely to flock to their side.

But according to reports from Raiwind, Nawaz Sharif is keen on the PML-F also joining his government in the Centre. The PML-F’s Pir Sadruddin Shah, who enjoys good personal relations with the Sharifs, will likely be well accommodated as well. It is also likely that some allied Baloch nationalists will be given positions in the Center as well, with the aim of making the government appear as inclusive as possible.

K-P government

Where this province is concerned, it seems the PML-N chief is in two minds. Sources say he is contemplating whether the PML-N should try for a coalition government or instead let the PTI try and rule.

Under the 18th amendment, the party which has a majority in the house has to be invited to form the government but this time Nawaz is contemplating making the government in K-P with coalition partners due to certain reasons.

The PML-N’s fear is that if the PTI makes a government in K-P, then it will give a tough time to them as far as dealing with the war on terror is concerned, as well as on the conflict in the tribal areas and relations with ISAF and Afghanistan. They said that due to the strategic location of K-P, Nawaz can’t afford any opposition, obstacle or intervention from a PTI-led government in the province when dealing with these issues. Party members have suggested to Nawaz that if he opts to try for K-P, then he has to reach out to the JUI-F, JI and other parties as well as independents. And in fact, that process has already begun, as Nawaz has reportedly made phone calls to JUI-F and JI chiefs and has called a party meeting on Monday at Raiwind where this issue will be discussed.

Balochistan government

The other issue which has been finalised was that nationalists will be taken on board in this province.

The party discussed choices for chief minister of Balochistan, but one problem is how to resolve the tussle between Sanaullah Zahri and Akhtar Mengal, after the killing of Zehri’s relatives.

Senator Pervez Rashid officially urged the election authorities to immediately announce the withheld results from the province. He said there is lot of confusion and unrest in the province and no party is in the position to decide about the future government. He said withholding polling results may spoil the transparency and neutrality of the election.

The new who’s who – a work in progress.

Nawaz will almost certainly be prime minister, and there is talk of a former ambassador as foreign minister.

After the Raiwind meeting concluded, Senator Ishaq Dar has started already started his work his work as de-facto finance minister while sitting in his office in Lahore’s Model Town.

After finalising the cabinet list, speaker and deputy speaker, the party is expected to ask for an NA session. This should happen within about 10 days.

Not smooth sailing all  the way

It’s not all hunky dory just yet; while the PML-N controls the NA, it remains subservient to other in the Senate. Here, the PPP has 41 seats in the 104-member house against the PML-N’s 14.

This means that it can still face daunting challenges when trying to pass any legislation because every new law routes through both houses of Parliament separately before getting a final nod from the president. To pass a law, a simple majority is needed while a constitutional amendment needs a two-thirds majority in both houses.

If the PPP stays in opposition, it along with any of the other parties that would be sitting on opposition benches in the Senate can give a tough time to the PML-N in terms of passing legislation. This would be a reversal of the scene of the 90’s when the PPP faced exactly this problem.

However, if the PML-N opts to ally with the PPP it would have serious political implications given the abysmally low popularity graph of the PPP.

The PML-N will gain some Senate seats from Punjab in the 2015 Senate elections based on its increased strength in the provincial assembly. This, along with seats from Balochistan and K-P, will augment its strength, but it would remain short of getting a simple majority in the Senate.  Seems a spot of reconciliation will be needed to smooth the legislative gears in the years to come.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2013.

Despite the tall claims made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), an overwhelming majority of polling staff complained of massive mismanagement on the commission’s part. In many instances, election material did not even reach polling stations till late Friday night or Saturday morning.

Painstakingly long queues, no parking space, lack of polling booths, faulty ballot papers, missing polling station staff and delay in the voting process were the common complaints that surfaced across the country as voting for the 2013 general elections kicked off.

While part of the reason for the long queues at polling stations was the unprecedented voter turnout, the issue mainly arose due to a shortage of polling booths.

It is yet to be verified if the ECP provided what it had claimed will be ‘magnetic ink’ for thumb impressions of voters because in most of polling stations, common stamp pads were being used.

Ballot papers in a number of constituencies were faulty, many voters complained. The names of candidates with their symbols were printed in parallel lines.

A common issue voters faced was if the ballot paper was folded while the stamp ink was wet, its ink impression would get implanted against some other candidate’s name — leading to cancellation of a large number of votes.

A female presiding officer at a polling station set up for women at Gordon College Rawalpindi said she had been waiting till three in the morning in order to collect the ballot papers and other related material for her polling station.

“I reached the polling station at four in the morning and set up the polling station,” she told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. “There was a real mess on the part of the election commission with regards to the distribution of polling material,” she complained.

“I did not even get time to have breakfast and there was no time to take breaks during the polling hours.”

Similar complaints were received in several other polling stations including NA-55 of Rawalpindi. Khurram Shehzad, presiding officer at the Government Degree College for Women at Mangtal claimed, “The college administration was not even informed that a polling station would be set up here.

“We reached at 3 am and found all doors closed and then broke the locks to set up the polling station.”

The presiding officer at the polling station on Murree Road near Liaqat Bagh had similar complaints.

Some polling stations had only two or three polling booths to serve voters numbering in the thousands – resulting in people waiting in queues for hours.

For the whole E-11 Sector’s over 6,000 female voters, only one polling station had been set up at a school in Golra. Hundreds of female voters continued to wait to cast their vote for over six hours.

There was no queue for senior or disabled citizens who were forced to either cut in lines ahead of people who had been waiting for hours or to wait in the heat like others, a presiding officer told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.

Nawaz Sharif is all set to form a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in the Centre for the third time, after his party emerged as the clear leader according to the unofficial results of the 2013 elections.

Millions turned out to cast their votes on Saturday, largely rejecting the former ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Many idols fell as Pakistanis voted for new faces in the National Assembly from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), which has emerged as the second largest political force, surpassing the PPP and others.

Although, results are yet to be officially announced, Nawaz was quick to declare victory as he addressed his supporters outside his Model Town residence in Lahore. “We are thankful to Allah for giving the PML-N another chance to serve Pakistan,” he said in his brief address.

“Now, pray that we (the PML-N) get am absolute majority in assembly,” he said. The PML-N chief, however, indicated that if needed he would be willing to form a coalition with other smaller parties.

Nawaz also announced that he would forgive “all those who abused” him and his brother and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Nawaz served as prime minister from 1990 to 1993, before he was sacked by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. His second term lasted from1997 to 1999, when he was deposed by the Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

The province of the Punjab holds the key to the making or breaking of governments, owing to its 148 general seats in the National Assembly that were, this time,  dominated by the N-League. Nawaz Sharif’s party reclaimed almost all those seats won by the PPP in the 2008 elections.

According to  PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif won his NA-120 constituency, and Shahbaz Sharif won NA-129.

PTI chairman Imran Khan lost NA-122 to Sardar Ayaz Sadiq after a close competition. However, PTI’s Shafqat Mehmood and Hamid Khan advocate won NA-126 and NA-125 respectively. This makes the PTI Punjab’s second largest party.

The PPP did not fare as well, with many of its major leaders losing by large margins in some cases.

Saturday’s polls were historic not only for being the first democratic transition in the country’s history, but also in terms of the turnover, especially given the security situation in the country.

The polls’ interim results disproved all negative assessments about Imran Khan’s PTI, which performed beyond the expectations of many. Imran won his native seat from Mianwali, after defeating his arch rival, veteran politician Obaidullah Khan Shadikhel, by a margin of about 60,000 votes.

The PTI appears to be filling the gap created by the PPP and its allies, whose last five year stint was mired with allegations of corruption, mismanagement, economic downturn and lawlessness.

The PPP maintained a good record in its traditional stronghold – Sindh. Senior politicians Syed Naveed Qamar and Syed Khursheed Shah retained their respective seats with handsome leads. According to unofficial results, however, former ministers Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Mian Manzoor Wattoo and two-time winner from Sargodha Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi lost the elections.

With Qureshi and Afzal Gondals’ defeat in Sargodha, the PPP has lost its chances of winning any seat from the five seats of Sargodha district. Unconfirmed results suggested that the PML-N dominated the district, as well as Faisalabad district’s 10 contested seats.

However, not everyone in the PML-N was a winner. Some big names in the party, particularly ones from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, failed to bag majority votes. Muhammad Shakeel Awan from NA-55 lost to Awami Muslim League (AML) leader and veteran politician Sheikh Rashid Ahmed; Hanif Abbasi was in tough competition with Imran Khan for NA-56, while the PML-N also lost one of its two previous seats in Islamabad, which was claimed this time by PTI’s Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, who defeated N-League’s Anjum Aqeel Khan by a big margin.

The fractured PML-Quaid, which boasted 54 seats in the previous assembly, was able to retain only a handful of seats. PPP ally, the embattled Awami National Party (ANP), which ruled Khyber-Pakhtounkhwa (K-P), was almost completely wiped out. All its central leaders, including its chief Asfandyar Wali, failed to retain their seats.

A significant number of assembly seats were won by independent candidates, who, according to unofficial results, numbered over 20. Political pundits predict that most of them would swing towards the majority party in the National Assembly – the PML-N.

Unofficial results

According to the unofficial results, in Sindh the PPP has won nine National Assembly seats; MQM has won seven; PML-F one, and JI has failed to win any.

In Balochistan, the National Party and PkMAP won two seats each, and the PML-N and BNP-Mengal won a seat each.

In Peshawar, PTI is leading in all four NA seats.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.

Over the past month, militants have bombed, shot at, killed, kidnapped and threatened political candidates and supporters in an attempt to torpedo the vote.

Some 86.16 million people are set to exercise their democratic right. The polls are unique for its many ‘firsts’. These are the first elections where the youth comprises 40% of the total number of registered voters. It will be the first time that polls held in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will be on a party basis. But above all ‘first’, these novel elections will not see the ‘establishment’ at work – not visibly at least.

In the 10 general elections held since 1970, Pakistan Peoples Party has emerged victorious four times, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or the Islami Jamhoori Itehad (IJI). No government could be formed in 1977, while the 1985 elections were held on a non-party basis under General Ziaul Haq’s military rule.

However, the ‘establishment’ has been at play in almost all elections. The 1990 elections, when the IJI came into power with Nawaz Sharif as prime minister, the polls were described by both local and international observers as being “massively rigged.”

After completing its five-year tenure, PPP seems to be in trouble, perhaps for the first time. PPP and its allied parties were singled out by terrorists in the run-up to the 2013 elections. But many said it was their performance over the past five years that was seen as a deciding factor contributing to their poor electioneering.

Managing the ballot

The biggest elections of the country’s history would be supervised and executed by 644,234 polling personnel deployed at 69,729 polling stations, hosting 193,235 polling booths.  48, 613, 963 males and 37, 548, 676 females would exercise their right to vote in today’s polls.

In the wake of dwindling law and order situation in the country, particularly in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has termed 15,681 polling stations as high sensitive, 15,214 as sensitive and 38, 834 as normal.

Police, along with other law enforcement agencies, will guard all polling stations. The army is deployed at high sensitive polling stations while its presence will be seen in the form of a Quick Response Force if polling staff requisition them.

The players

A total of 15,621 candidates will be contesting 268 National and 570 provincial assembly seats.

From the 250 registered political parties, 148 parties were allotted symbols, however, not all of them fielded candidates to contest elections.

Elections have been postponed for three national and six provincial assembly seats, as candidates from these constituencies have been murdered. These include NA-254 (Karachi-XVI), where Awami National Party (ANP) leader Sadiq Zaman Khattak was murdered, NA-241 (Karachi-III), where independent candidate Shakeel Ahmad was killed, NA-83 (Faisalabad-IX) where independent candidate Mian Amjad died.

Other constituencies of provincial assemblies, where elections are delayed include PP-217, PP-254 Muzzaffar Gardh, PB-32, PS-64 and PP-254.

In one constituency, NA-38 (Tribal Area-III), Kurram Agency, elections were postponed due to the deteriorating law and order situation.

Elections are on schedule in PP-200, where former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son, Ali Haider Gilani, one of the contesting candidates, was kidnapped.

Party alliances

Unlike the 2002 elections, when religious parties struck a coalition named Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), there is no major pre-poll alliance among religious parties going into the ballot, exacept the Mutahida Deeni Muhaaz (MDM) – an electoral alliance of five religious groups including Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islami-Sami (JUI-S) and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP).

The alliance, however, has slim chances of winning an MMA-like victory.

MMA – an alliance of JUI-F, Jamaat-e-Islami and other religious parties – managed to form governments in Balochistan and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) but the alliance disintegrated prior to the 2008 elections. This time, both JUI-F and JI are taking solo flights.

In today’s polls, many major political parties including PML-N, PML-Functional, JI and other parties formed an alliance with nationalist parties in Sindh called the 10-Party Alliance. They have gone for seats adjustment with one another.

Unlike the 2008 polls, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, no political parties have boycotted elections.  Previously, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), JI, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) boycotted the 2008 elections, refusing to go to ballot under President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf’s reign.

The only exception, to boycott the polls, would be firebrand scholar Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

Party Position 2008/2002

In 2008, PPP-Parliamentarians formed the government in the centre by forging an alliance with ANP, MQM and JUI-F. It secured 122 seats in National Assembly with PML-N as a runner up with 92.  PML-Quaid, with 61 seats, jumped into the coalition later.

In 2002, PML-Q — also known as the ‘King’s Party’ – fully backed by former president Musharraf secured 118 seats and managed to form a government in the centre by securing an alliance with MMA that won 61 seats.

PPP was the main opposition with 81 seats, while PML-N managed to win only 19 seats.

This assembly also completed its five-year term but under Musharraf’s de-facto command, hence it could not be called a completely democratic government.

Ensure impartiality, says ECP

The Election Commission has urged polling staff to ensure impartiality to make the voting exercise credible.

ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan told reporters that every institution affiliated to the election process should have to play its role to establish the 2013 elections as the most credible elections in the history of the country.

He said around 700,000 staff will be performing election duties, while 75,000 army personnel would be performing security duties.

Despite their assurances, the ministry of water and power did not fulfill its promise of no power shutdowns in the country on Friday, the ECP secretary said.

“If there will be power shutdowns for even a minute tomorrow, there will be a question mark on the performance of the ministry.”

Results procedure

Once polling will be over, counting of votes will be carried out at every polling station in the presence of polling agents of political parties.

The presiding officer will sign the result sheet and will also get it signed by the polling agents and deliver a copy to representatives.

The same copy along with ballot papers will be sent to the district returning officer’s office, where results of all the polling stations would be compiled based on result sheets coming from polling stations.

Once compiled, the returning officer will send it to ECP headquarters through fax. The ECP will announce results, which will be unofficial at that point.

The next day contesting candidates can ask the returning officer to recount all the ballots if they want so.

Similarly, they can ask him to open the postal ballots already reached his office in sealed envelops and add these votes accordingly in the final results.

ECP will later notify the official results completing all the formalities after a few days.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.

During the campaign, her average day consisted of 15-20 corner meetings in remote villages. Ayla would wave back to the ebullient crowds with a smile, the crowds mostly the youth.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan is also contesting from his native town Mianwali’s National Assembly constituency NA-71. While Imran remained on a countrywide campaign for his party, he left his own campaign in this constituency to Ayla, the granddaughter of Nawab Malik Amir Muhammad Khan. Imran addressed this constituency only once during the ongoing campaign on April 30.

The royalty factor

Mailk Muhammad, commonly known as Nawab of Kalabagh, had been an influential political figure and served as governor of West Pakistan during Ayub Khan’s military regime.

For many, Ayla is a glamorous female figure; they want to have a rare chance of seeing a woman of the Nawab family in person. For others she is a beacon of hope, like Imran himself.

“We’d get dozens of requests every day for her to attend corner meetings. PTI candidates of adjoining constituencies requested her to show up at their meetings for a few minutes just to wave to their supporters, if she does not have time to make a speech,” said one of her coordinators.

The family of Nawabs of Kalabagh was not different from other such families of rulers of princely states.

Till a few decades back, all the male subjects of Kalabagh had to turn their backs when the royal women passed. Some say this was an expression of respect, while others claim they had to comply with strict orders of the Nawabs, when women of their family passed through the towns with royal entourage.

No other women of their family ever come out in the public.  Even the male servants of the Nawab family –reduced in numbers now but still over 1,000 – are barred from entering the family residential compound. The royal place is spread over hundreds of kanals.

Family politics

Ayla is at number three in PTI’s priority list of reserved seats for women and would be declared MNA if the party secures more than 15 general seats in the May 11 general polls.

Ayla and her elder sister Sumaira Malik entered public life when they became MNAs on reserved seats for women in 2002 from the platform of their maternal uncle Farooq Leghari’s party National Alliance which later merged into Musharraf’s PML-Q.

Light in the dark alleys

The dark alleys of Kalabagh in the old narrow bazaars of the town are just five feet wide with dangerously dilapidated mud and wooden structures on both sides. These bazaars are called ‘dark alleys’ due to their archaic but unique architecture.

In these dark alleys where sunlight can hardly enter live hundreds of families under extremely impoverished conditions in tiny, near-collapsing houses.

When Ayla Malik would hold meetings in these areas, the youth would gather in multitudes, singing and dancing to the tunes of Mianwali’s folksinger Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi’s election songs for Imran Khan and PTI in local Seriaki dialect. “We want change. We are with Imran Khan and Ayla Bibi for change” the youngsters who had turned up from neighborhoods remarked.

Ayla’s promises to her people are of education, health and other basic facilities if PTI comes to power.

The ‘Qila’ is the Nawab family’s winter residence. “We had never seen this building from inside before Ayla Bibi declared it PTI’s office and opened it for the public” said a young man. For many locals who acknowledged that their forefathers served like slaves of Nawabs, access to the compound is a sign of change.

Local concerns

“Sir ji, we do not have any surgeon in our tehsil headquarters hospital. The normal doctor appointed to serve at the hospital is hardly ever available,” said Muhammad Rafiq, a local.

Tuberculosis, hepatitis and kidney diseases are common. “We cannot afford costly treatment,” said Asad who earns Rs250 a day through his cycle-rickshaw.

Narcotics are a common business here. Locals claim that some get an extra 5 to 6 kg of hashish these days from influential drug peddlers to distribute it for free or on rebate to make sure that they vote for a particular candidate.

It is yet to be seen what substantive improvement will come about in the lives of the inhabitants of Mianwali who hope for a change.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.

Before Bilawal Bhutto’s final video address in Islamabad, the PPP leadership, unlike the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamaat-e-Islami, did not hold rallies or corner meetings across the country. Similarly, the MQM and ANP’s activities remained limited.

While they always managed to make it to the headlines, it was, unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. The parties were targeted in their very own political strongholds when attacks were carried out at their rallies, election offices and corner meetings.

“Wherever our candidates tried to hold rallies, blasts or firing incidents occurred. Even then our workers and candidates remained undeterred,” said a PPP leader.

The former ruling party nevertheless tried to compensate their absence by advertising heavily.

The MQM paid a hefty price with its election offices being attacked with bombs and their candidates and workers being killed in incidents of target shootings. Party leader Altaf Hussain and the party’s deputy convener Farooq Sattar protested against the violence but to no avail.

ANP was the worst sufferer of terrorist attacks. Bashir Ahmed Bilour, a key ANP leader, was killed in a bomb blast ahead of ANP’s election campaign in Peshawar.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) besides issuing a general threat to people asking them to stay away from elections, declared the party ‘un-Islamic’. The militants said ANP, MQM and the PPP were secular and vowed to sabotage their campaign.

PTI chief Khan and N-League’s Sharif brothers remained dominant throughout the election campaign. The PPP, MQM, and ANP accused these two parties of enjoying a ‘free-hand’ and general amnesty from terrorists.

PML-N chief and his brother Shahbaz Sharif held 70 major rallies over the last 25 days across Pakistan. The PTI chief held 70 rallies in different cities.

Again, former ruling parties alleged that election campaigns ran only in Punjab, while the other three provinces suffered from terrorist activities.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.