ECP summons Waheeda over rigging allegations

After a trial for assaulting a polling officer, she is to answer to complaints of forged votes.

ISLAMABAD: If the accusations of slapping a polling officer weren’t enough, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) hopeful for MPA seat Waheeda Shah is now facing allegations of rigging.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned Shah on Tuesday (today) in the alleged case of rigging during the by-polls in PS-53 Tando Muhammad Khan.

ECP chief Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza will take up multiple complaints filed with the commission in connection with rigging at 11 polling stations in the said constituency, ECP officials told The Express Tribune. “She could be disqualified under the rules of discipline if found guilty,” the officials said. The provincial chief of the commission, presiding officers of these polling stations and other board members will attend the hearings.

One of the complainants was Shah’s opponent Mushtaq Ali Talpur who alleged that Shah had been involved in the casting of forged votes, after which the chief election commissioner (CEC) issued notices to all the parties to appear before the commission Tuesday.

Shah won a majority in the initial count. On February 27, however, the ECP withheld the official results, taking serious notice of the infamous slapping incident. CEC Mirza also ordered that an FIR be registered against her.

The complainants informed the ECP of rigging at polling station 16, where polling agents were kicked out from the booth to allow for fake votes to be cast. They also pointed out rigging in polling station 56, polling station 76, and polling station 33. Not only did Shah’s supporters force the election officials out of the poll stations, the complainants alleged, but Shah herself backed the coercive tactics.

Meanwhile, Returning Officer for PS-53 Ali Asghar Sial has also submitted his report on Shah’s assault of an election officer. The ECP chief had directed Sial to take immediate cognizance of the matter.

On Monday, the summary trial started by the election commission against Shah in the assault case completed its proceedings.

Sial recorded the statement of the PPP-MPA-elect. According to the statement, Shah said that it was not her intention to either harass or torture the polling staff. She said that the incident occurred when certain polling agents ‘misguided’ her about rigging (from her opponents’ side) in the polling station.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM HAFEEZ TUNIO IN KARACHI)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.