PK-95, Lower Dir-II: PHC says re-polls cannot be ordered on hearsay

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court has said re-polls cannot be ordered in PK-95, Lower Dir-II on the basis of presumption and hearsay.

As per a detailed judgement on the matter, it was the choice of the voter to cast his or her ballot and there was no punitive law that prevented them from doing so.

A copy of the detailed judgement is available with The Express Tribune. It was issued after a two-judge bench, consisting PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan, announced a short order on Thursday that set aside ECP’s decision to cancel results of the PK-95 by-polls.

Standing by ruling

The detailed judgement read that ECP had made a series of arrangements throughout the polling day, on May 7, 2015. A series of steps were also taken to enable women to vote.

The judgement observed that no person, including any voter of the area, made any complaint either on the day of election or thereafter to the elections staff or ECP. “Nothing is available on the file to show that women were restrained either by elders of the locality or men in the constituency from casting their votes,” it stated.

“If this is the situation, then the question arises if there is any provision in the Representation of Peoples Act (ROPA) 1976 that election staff would compel a voter male or female to come to polling station and cast vote. The answer [is] no.”

‘Were men restrained?’

The judgment stated that as per records, the number of registered voters who were male in the constituency was 86,926. Of these, only 38,590 voted while the remaining did not.

“Can it be said that such a large number of voters were restrained or compelled by someone to not cast their votes?” the bench questioned.

The bench ruled that there is no such law that restrains women from voting. It was said that if women do not cast vote then, the entire election cannot be annulled. “Doing so would be tantamount to disenfranchisement of 38,590 voters who had already exercised their right,” the bench observed.

It further stated there was not a single instance in the past where a woman went to cast her vote and she was stopped by someone. The bench observed that under certain circumstances re-polls can be ordered in a few polling stations of the constituency.

‘No objections’

The bench also observed that in the present case it exercised its power on hearsay without evidence suggesting that either polling arrangements were not made in the constituency or the contesting candidates of the locality barred women from voting.

“Only on the basis of presumption, re-polls cannot be ordered when otherwise it appears that the election was conducted in the constituency in a fair and transparent manner,” it stated. As per the judgment, the returning officer, district returning officer and additional secretary of law and order in K-P have submitted their written replies.

In his reply, the district returning officer said 85 polling stations were set up for men and women and no such complaint from any party or individual was received about the alleged agreement to stop women from voting.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2016.