Posters and hoardings were used of sizes larger than the ones set by the ECP. PHOTO: FILE
A majority of the rallies staged by the country’s political outfits in the run-up to the May 11 elections have violated the code of conduct laid down by the poll supervisory body, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The report – compiled by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), a coalition of non-governmental organisations engaged in election monitoring work – stated that 86 per cent out of all the rallies it had observed violated the Election Commission of Pakistan’s code of conduct. FAFEN said it had observed a total of 49 rallies.
Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz were singled out by FAFEN for most transgressions of the code (11 apiece). The report was consolidated by observers in 30 National Assembly constituencies across the country.
It said that out of the total four rallies were held outside the residence of party leaders. Twelve rallies caused inconvenience to the people and snarled traffic on the road. Some 33 rallies were held at “un-notified” locations, it said.
The report claimed that PTI violated the codes 11 times during its nine rallies. The same number of violations were committed by Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians over the course of 10 rallies. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was observed to be on an equal footing, with the same number of rallies and an equal number of violations.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazalur Rehman was observed defying the set rules during its rally in NA-268 where the gathering was called outside a party leader’s residence. According to details, PPP tops the list of those violating clause 29 of the code, which bars display of firearms. PML-N workers violated this provision 14 times.
Separately, more than 50 complaints were made against individual violators of the code of conduct, including Shahbaz Sharif and former Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Rana Mashood. Posters and hoardings were used of sizes larger than the ones set by the ECP.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.
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I don't understand these code of ethics. It is fine to bribe the voter or to take money from the ticket holders by a party but it is against the code to hold a rally outside your residence. Code of conduct should be more reasonable and sensible.