Pakistan, India election credibility juxtaposed

Political change comes via polls in India but Pakistan continues undemocratic practices, experts say

ISLAMABAD:

The undemocratic interference by powerful stake[1]holders as well as the old habit of not accepting political change via the ballot box by resorting to a “centralized rigging mechanism” has kept Pakistan embroiled in rigging allegations for decades now, experts said on Sunday.

In 2024, both Pakistan and India conducted general elections, yet despite elected governments taking the reins of power in both South Asian countries, Pakistan is still embroiled in polling controversies with the government recently issuing an ordinance to possibly enroll the assistance of retired judges by appointing them in election tribunals.

Conversely, despite some hiccups, India is all set to complete a smooth transfer of power and begin another phase of the democratic cycle. With 969 million voters, India concluded one of the biggest elections in the world where the poll results were largely accepted.

However, from the Result Transmission System (RTS) to the Election Management System (EMS) and certain other direct and indirect means, Pakistan with its 128m registered voters maintained its track record of once again con[1]ducting “tainted polls”, leaving a question mark on the national poll body’s performance and exposing the decades-old practice of overriding the choice of the people in ‘national interest’.

“India’s democracy rests on a national consensus that political change will be effected only through elections,” said Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador and currently a scholar at Washington DC’s Hudson Institute and the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi.

“Pakistan has never had that consensus.” The former envoy recalled that there is a longstanding tradition in Pakistan, going back to 1953, that accepts undemocratic interference by civil servants, military officers, and superior court judges in the political process.

Haqqani believes democracy cannot progress if the elite believe they have a right to change or override people’s choices in national interest, saying India has never had to deal with that attitude. “Elections are held on time and their integrity is respected,” Haqqani said, “every institution does only its job and does not infringe on others’ work. No one second-guesses elected leaders”.

Contrarily, Pakistan Institute of Legislative D e v e l o p m e n t a n d Transparency (PILDAT) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said that Indian elections have generally been reasonably free and fair but their 2024 election has generated quite a few controversies both in the pre-election and electionday phases, recalling that two chief ministers opposing the BJP were arrested just before the elections.

The PILDAT chief, who is considered an authority on political, legislative and electoral affairs of the country and beyond, noted that Modi used hateful language against Muslims during the election campaign, referring to Muslims as infiltrators and birth machines which was clearly against their election code of conduct, but the election commission did not take any notice of it despite complaints lodged.

In his post-election presser, Mehboob added that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Modi government of gross irregularities. “We should, therefore, not try to paint Pakistan and India in black and white scenarios,” he said. Having said that, Mehboob hastened to add, “there is no doubt that we in Pakistan have had bad election after bad election since 1977.”

According to Mehboob, the main problem is Pakistan’s repeated military interventions which have not allowed democracy to take root and its institutions, like the ECP, to become strong enough to effectively thwart any attempt to manipulate polls. “The second reason is that there is a centralized mechanism to rig elections in the country although the mechanism of rigging keeps changing,” he said, apparently referring to rigging via the RTS and EMS systems and allegedly changing results of Form 45 and Form 47.

Mehboob recalled that the PPP government had committed gross preelection and election-day rigging in 1977, adding that Gen Zia’s regime held no-party-based election in 1985 to keep the PPP out of power. The anti-PPP alliance IJI was created by intelligence agencies in 1988 and funds were distributed among IJI component parties in 1990, he added, saying the judiciary was used by intelligence agencies to oust Nawaz Sharif in 2017 so that ‘desired’ results could be obtained in the 2018 election.

In 2024, Mehboob said the PTI was victimized and pre-election, election-day and post-election manipulation was employed to ensure that the PTI doesn’t come into power in the center. “We have an impeccable legal framework & institutions to ensure free and fair elections but strong central manipulation in each election has deprived Pakistan of free and fair polls,” Mehboob said.

Unless the “forces of manipulation” reconsider their policies and actions, Mehboob said, no amount of preparation will ensure free and fair polls in Pakistan. He added that Pakistan’s legal framework is superior to India’s as here the election commissioners are appointed through bi-partisan consensus unlike India “but what can we do if a political party (PTI) after proposing the name of a CEC, criticizes him; doesn’t take responsibility and instead blames the former COAS of proposing the name to PM Imran Khan”.