PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Two days after the historic elections were held on May 11, Syed Iqbal Kazmi, Pakistan Qaumi Movement’s chairperson, challenged the results and took the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), provincial election commission and home secretary to court.
Kazmi said election officials and administration were bound to ensure that voters, as well as, candidates were protected and peace maintained during elections under articles 4, 9, 15, 25 and 148(3) of the Constitution.
Referring to media reports, he claimed that bogus voting continued openly at the 41,204 polling stations set up in the city. A total of 2,873 polling stations were taken over by some political parties, he alleged.
The petitioner said despite the fact that the election commission had permitted political parties and their candidates to use their right to speech and free movement, some were barred from doing so.
He said Shakil Ahmed, a candidate for PS-95, was murdered a day before election, while Syed Asghar Abbas, a candidate for NA-253, and Allama Ansarullah Madni, candidate for NA-125, were abducted.
Kazmi said because of a lack of fairness and transparency, political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi, Sunni Tehreek, Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen, Sunni Ittehad Council and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, had boycotted the polls in city.
He claimed the election commission had also issued a statement, expressing its concern with the Corps Commander Karachi and director-general of Sindh Rangers that the polling staff in many of Karachi’s constituencies had been threatened. In other constituencies, attempts had been made to hijack vehicles transporting voting material from the Returning Officers to polling stations, claimed the petitioner. “This has caused delays in polling, especially in NA-250,” he said while quoting the ECP secretary.
“In such a situation the elections cannot be declared as free, fair and transparent,” he argued. He pleaded the court to disregard the results and order fresh elections in the city. He also pleaded the court to restrain the ECP from announcing the results of elections in Karachi till the plea is disposed.
When the matter came up for hearing, the bench, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, observed that the election tribunal has already been established to decide election-related matters and dismissed the plea, directing the petitioner to approach the election tribunal instead.
The same bench issued a notice on a plea, seeking re-election on NA-250 seat of Karachi. Advocate Moulvi Iqbal Haider, who was a candidate for this constituency, said there was no need of re-election in the city, except NA-250 where the polling was stopped following a dispute between the political workers. He pleaded the court to direct the election officials to announce a new schedule for polling for the seat.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2013.
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