Rigging complaints: With no deadline, election tribunals fail to deliver [orders]

Election commission has not received a single verdict from the tribunals in Sindh.

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD/ KARACHI:

Even after nearly six months since the May 11 elections, the fate of the complaints registered against rigging in polls has yet to be decided by the election tribunals in Karachi, Sukkur and Hyderabad. Around 93 complaints have been registered — 31 in Hyderabad, 33 in Sukkur and 29 in Karachi.

According to Sindh Election Commissioner SM Tariq Qadri, the election commission has not received a single verdict from any of the three tribunals. “The delay is mostly on part of the petitioners, eyewitnesses and respondents who have prolonged the proceedings,” he said.



Brigadier (retd) Zahir Hussain, the Sindh director general of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), said that they had submitted their reports, identifying bogus votes, to the tribunals. “We have done our job, now the tribunals and the election commission have to take action against the bogus votes and also the voters,” he added.

When speaking about the punishment for those found guilty of casting multiple votes, Justice (retd) Wajeehuddin Ahmed said that it amounted to impersonation which was illegal, adding that the tribunal can give its decision not only against the voters, but also the polling staff. “If any tribunal fails to take action against fake voters, the election commission can refer the cases to the district and sessions judge, which means that the election commission will become the complainant against people who have cast multiple votes,” he said.

According to Qadri, there were different provisions in the law that suggested that punishment for bogus voters could range from 20 days to five years. “The people who cast bogus votes and those who planned to rig the elections come under different categories.”

Karachi 

The tribunal in Karachi is working under the supervision of former Sindh High Court judge Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani.



Registration of complaints started from June but both complainants and respondents are still waiting for orders to be passed on the pleas. “The final arguments are under way and the tribunal will soon announce its decisions,” Sherwani told The Express Tribune.

Soon after the tribunal was set up, many people, especially those candidates who faced defeat in the elections, filed their petitions. Later, the tribunal referred verification of thumb impressions and other related information to NADRA. The forensic analysis report of NADRA revealed that certain voters cast multiple or bogus votes.  “Not only bogus votes, but fake presiding officers were also appointed for rigging the polls in different areas. I have submitted an official record to the tribunal about a woman, Safia Malik, whose name was not even on the list of presiding officers issued by the election commission. But being a political activist, she was appointed as a presiding officer in PS-93 (SITE),” said advocate Kareem Durrani, who is pleading the case of his client, Bashir Khan.

According to the officials of the election tribunal, seven out of the 29 petitions filed were dismissed on legal grounds. “Petitioners whose applications have been dismissed reserve the right to challenge it in the Supreme Court,” said Justice (retd) Sherwani.

Sukkur and Hyderabad

Out of the 33 petitions filed at the election tribunal in Sukkur, 26 were filed from Sukkur division and seven from Larkana division. Ten petitions were dismissed and seven were transferred to other cities — four to Karachi and three to Hyderabad — but none have been decided as yet.

Officials told The Express Tribune that 12 cases have been referred to NADRA for verification of thumb impressions, out of which only three cases have been reported back to the election tribunal.

The Hyderabad Election Tribunal at Kotri has disposed of only six petitions out of 31 which the tribunal began hearing in July this year.

The cases from PS-49 (Hyderabad), PS-53 (Tando Muhammad Khan), PS-63 (Tharparkar), PS-75 (Dadu), PS-86 (Thatta) and PS-87 (Thatta) have been dismissed. In the case relating to NA-236 (Sanghar), which was won by Pakistan Peoples Party’s Roshan Deen Junejo, verification of thumb impression has been ordered. The  jurisdiction of the tribunal, headed by Justice (retd) Muhammad Ashraf Baloch, includes Tando Muhammad Khan, Dadu, Sanghar, Tando Allahyar, Umerkot, Thatta, Tharparkar, Matiari, Badin, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2013.