Whose [dead]line is it anyway?: Official results delayed from all but two districts

SWAT/ PESHAWAR/ MARDAN:

The election commission has only received official results of local government elections from Dir and Buner districts; results from the remaining will be announced on June 12.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Election Commission of Pakistan K-P Deputy Director Khushal Zada confirmed district returning officers (DRO) from various districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have failed to submit official results.

The deputy director said the ECP had announced a schedule for the elections on April 4 which categorically stated official results would be announced on June 7. However, Khushal Zada said ROs have so far not provided them to the ECP.



“It will be immensely difficult for the ECP to finalise the results,” Khushal said. “Over 85,000 candidates had contested local government elections for roughly 44,000 seats.”

ECP K-P Spokesperson Sohail Ahmad said ROs from the remaining districts have yet to submit the relevant forms on the basis of which the commission can prepare the final results.

“So far, we have only received unofficial results,” he added.

Stick to the plan

The Peshawar DRO’s office remained closed on Sunday, The Express Tribune has learnt. DC Riaz Mehsud, who is also the DRO for Peshawar, could not be contacted for his version, despite repeated attempts.

DROs from various districts also failed to meet the deadline for issuing results for the polls. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Mardan DRO Shahidullah Khan said he had only received results for five out of 76 union councils.

“We received results from Bicket Ganj, Mohabbatabad, Bari Cham UCs,” he said. “Results from the remaining 71 UCs have not been received.”

Khan maintained it was an arduous task to collect district, tehsil, village and neighbourhood council results in a week. “We will submit the official results to ECP by Monday (today),” he added.

However, a representative of the ECP told The Express Tribune they had issued a letter to ROs, urging them to compile and submit results by June 7.

“However, they have failed to do so,” he added.

Anxiety prevails

The delay in meeting the deadline came at a time when rigging allegations surrounding the poll run rife. The tripartite alliance of opposition leaders in the K-P Assembly has decided to take to the streets against alleged rigging during the polling process. Meanwhile, the chief minister has also called an all parties conference over the matter.



Various independent candidates who contested the polls from the provincial capital have voiced fears that the delay could mean results are being manipulated in favour of a particular party or candidate. Such fears are likely to intensify the conflicts and controversies surrounding the elections.

The way forward

The ECP has insisted election tribunals be established to address poll-related complaints.

According to a notification issued on Sunday, the task has been handed over to the district and sessions judges and additional district sessions judges.

It has urged people who have complaints about the matter to have their grievances addressed through these mechanisms.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2015.