Fake documents: NA speaker’s case against Aleem put on backburner

ECP adjourns case indefinitely in light of LHC stay order, retirement of members.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Speaker’s case against his opponent from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for filing fake documents to support allegations about transfer of thousands of votes from NA-122 (Lahore) without the consent of voters ahead of a by-election in the constituency appears to have been put on the backburner after the poll authorities on Monday once again failed to release their verdict in the case.

This is the fifth time the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) adjourned the case without making any progress over the past few months. Authorities cite a stay order by Lahore High Court as the reason for not making any progress.

On June 6, ECP said that June 20 is fixed as the next date for case proceedings. But on Monday, the law wing of ECP announced that it was adjourning the case indefinitely stating that it cannot proceed unless four new members of the body are appointed to replace the retired members.

The four members of the ECP retired earlier this month on June 12. It is not clear whether the poll body will stick with the verdict that its retired members had reached or if the case will be heard afresh once new members are appointed by the government.

Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq had moved a petition in the ECP against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Aleem Khan alleging that his political opponent had filed fake documents to substantiate allegations of rigging in last year’s by-elections.

Sadiq beat Khan in an October 2015 by-election in his native NA-122 constituency in Lahore after an election tribunal had annulled speaker’s victory in the 2013 general elections from the same constituency.

Once by-polls were over, the PTI candidate filed an 800-page petition in the ECP claiming that in the by-election held on October 11 last year, some 30,500 votes had been transferred from the constituency or cancelled, raising doubts about transparency of the election results. Affidavits of a number of voters had been attached with the petition.

Sadiq, in the meantime, challenged the veracity of some of these documents.

The ECP heard arguments from both sides, but reserved its judgment. In the meantime Khan got a stay order from LHC on the matter.

If allegation of false and fake documents is proved, Khan could face action from the ECP including jail for up to three years in addition to disqualification.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2016.