Strict measures: Rigging polls will be harder this time

Photo on electoral roll to help verify voters.

KARACHI:

Rigging these elections will not be a simple task this year as the election commission claims to have introduced measure that will reduce bogus votes by up to 90 per cent.

“If any political party wants to rig the elections then it will need to coerce the entire polling station team,” said an election officer, requesting his name to be withheld. The officer will be carrying out his duties on May 11 at a polling station on Korangi. He completed his election training with the Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday.



Since these elections will be the first time the presiding officers will be verifying the voters with their photographs on the electoral rolls and then issuing ballot papers, the chances of casting bogus votes will be relatively low. The ballot papers must also have the voter’s thumbprint along with the stamp of the presiding officer, he added.

If a party wants to rig the polls, they will have to evacuate the entire polling station of rival activists and involve the whole team, he said. “They will also have to reach an understanding with the police, which in itself is a difficult task.”

The officer recalled that in the past elections, political parties would prepare the ballot papers three days in advance and would cast bogus votes without any fear. But this time, the situation is different, he said confidently. Nevertheless, the ballot paper will not have the photograph of the voter.

The election staff’s integrity is questionable, he admitted, adding that most of the officers in training with him were affiliated with the political parties in Karachi.

Army’s presence

The presence of the armed forces in the vicinity has put a damper on any rigging plans. Mohammad Haroon, an activist of a political party, told The Express Tribune that his group used to cast bogus votes for their party during every election but this time they have their doubts because of the army. “One of our group members would get into a scuffle with someone at a polling station to grab the polling agents’ attention,” he explained, adding they usually hit the polling station an hour before polling ends. “While he kept the election staff busy in the fight, the rest of the group would cast bogus votes at gunpoint.” He admitted that they cast around 300 to 500 voters for their party’s candidate at their own polling station.

No difference

The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) is still having its reservations about the neutrality of the polls. JI’s Raja Arif Sultan feels these elections are no different from the previous ones in terms of rigging because the army will not be present inside the polling stations. “Who will come to ensure the new rules set by the ECP are being observed or not when the polling station teams will be party workers themselves?” he asked.



Sultan has been observing JI’s election campaigns in Karachi’s district South since 1985. “These elections will be no different than previous ones if a political party captures a polling station, expel polling agents from rival parties and force the polling station team to cast bogus votes.”

Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Khawaja Izharul Hassan welcomed the new ECP rules to control rigging but was unhappy with the security threats against them, the ANP and the PPP. “We would call it pre-poll rigging if the voter turnout dropped because of security threats in the city,” he said. “Liberal and progressive voters are under threat and the rest will come freely to cast their votes.” Hassan also rejected all claims that MQM activists were involved in pre-poll rigging. “When the MQM boycotted the elections then didn’t these parties bag all the votes?” he asked.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.