Vote fraud probe: Judicial commission issues notices to PML-N, MQM

ECP quells PTI’s fears of possible tampering of election records

ISLAMABAD: The judicial commission probing allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections issued notices to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday.

Headed by CJP Nasirul Mulk, the three-member body said it would make the final call in matters related to examining witnesses and recording their statements.

All the political parties were directed to submit their respective lists of witnesses and any additional proposals or documents to support their claims of rigging by Saturday.

The judicial body also sought assistance from the parties’ counsels to sort out the modalities for further proceedings.

On the PTI’s apprehensions over the likelihood of election records being tampered with, the commission directed the ECP to secure all the relevant records of the 2013 elections.

Abdul Hafiz Pirzada, counsel for the PTI, told the judicial body that the party had submitted two applications: one for summoning 13 witnesses and the other for sealing all the election records.

Pirzada said that while the party came in possession on Wednesday of copies of NADRA’s analysis reports on 38 constituencies, there wasn’t enough time to prepare a response.

When the CJP asked the room if anyone was attending the proceedings on behalf of the ruling party, no one stood up to respond – even though Mustafa Ramday of the PML-N’s legal team and party MNAs Anusha Rahman, Sheikh Rohail and Talal Chaudhry were in attendance.

Pirzada requested the commission to take possession of all the records.

When the CJP asked him how that would be possible, the counsel said the judicial body could hire an agency for the purpose.

“If not that, the ECP could at least give an undertaking that the records would not be tampered with,” said Pirzada.

Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the ECP, assured the commission that the election records were in good hands.

Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel for the PPP, appeared before the judicial body and submitted a one-page proposal, according to which, the commission has complete authority to access all the relevant records. “The corpus of relevant documents on which a finding of fraudulent elections or otherwise can be arrived at is contained and preserved in the polling bags.”

Aitzaz said the bags would establish whether or not large-scale rigging of a certain pattern had been carried out.

The proposal was widely welcomed by the PTI.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2015.