The ‘curious’ case of the missing column

ECP issues Islamabad election results without listing party affiliations, says there is no legal requirement to do so

ISLAMABAD:

The ‘party-free’ official announcement of Islamabad local government poll results by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has deepened the controversy surrounding the exact number of seats each political party controls.

Although the elections were held on party basis, the ECP has announced results without identifying candidates’ party affiliations.

Past practice was for the ECP was to mention the party affiliation of each winner in a separate column.

Even the results for the first phase of Sindh LG elections, released by the ECP on December 3, have a party column. But in Islamabad, the head titled “Party Affiliation [if any]” is missing altogether.

ECP spokesperson Khurshid Alam says the election body released results in the format it received them from the Islamabad district returning officer (DRO).

Alam said the DRO had not mentioned party affiliations of candidates, which is why it did not appear in results published by the ECP.

There is no legal requirement for the ECP to provide party-wise election results, the spokesman added.



Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf created a stir in the media after claiming that it had won nearly 200 seats for general members in the elections. The claim is yet to be verified and is based entirely on the party’s internal estimates.

In a press conference on Monday, PML-N Islamabad MNA Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry declined to answer a question about the exact number of general member seats won by the PML-N during ICT local government elections.

The PML-N has already managed to win an absolute majority in the metropolitan corporation after it recruited nine independent chairmen-elect, giving the party control of 29 out of 50 total seats.

PTI MNA from Islamabad Asad Umar said that the party’s calculations suggest that it won 199 lower seats and 16 seats at chairman level.

“We also have our suspicions regarding the results for UC Rawat, which changed at a late stage,” Umar said, adding that the PTI demands that the ECP announce the results in a transparent manner by mentioning the winning party’s affiliation and vote count.

He accused the ECP of withholding information “until [PML-N] has rigged things in their favour”.

“In the rest of the country, where they [PML-N, PPP and others] were in the majority, they did not hide information such as party affiliation,” he added.

Tariq Fazal Chaudhry was not available for comment. PML-N Islamabad General Secretary Sajid Abbasi said PTI had a habit of crying foul after losing. “PTI demanded recounts in seven UCs, which was entertained by the ECP to remove any doubt,” Abbasi said, adding that no candidates had approached the ECP with a rigging complaint regarding the polls in Islamabad, which is evidence that the elections were free and fair.

He said PTI was trying to divert public attention from the “thumping majority” the PML-N attained in Islamabad. “I can only ask PTI to stop mudslinging and do something constructive,” Abbasi concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2015.