Investigating vote fraud

The storm kicked up by the PTI over alleged rigging in the polls has dogged the ruling PML-N since election time.

In a move calculated to come to grips with the raging controversy over alleged vote fraud in the May 2013 national elections, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on December 15 offered to place the functions of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under the administrative control of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for three months. The timing of the offer coincides with the start of court proceedings on a petition filed by the PTI, seeking a probe into alleged wrongdoing in three key National Assembly constituencies where the ruling PML-N stalwarts emerged victors.



The storm kicked up by the PTI over alleged rigging in the polls has dogged the ruling PML-N since the general election and it is in the fitness of things that it must do all it can to satisfy not only the rival party but also the general electorate over its electoral conduct. A mandate tarnished with charges of wrongdoing leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and puts the ruling party in an embarrassing position. It is in this context that we welcome the interior minister’s magnanimous move to cede control of two key institutions and place it in the hands of the poll body. The step seems necessary to let the election commission work independently, free from all governmental intervention, in determining whether or not vote fraud was committed. That said, we must also point out that the election commission, under the Constitution, is already empowered to seek assistance of whichever institution it deems fit in the exercise of its constitutional functions, which, in all appearances, means the poll body does not require this help per se. However, given the general perception that the government controls the levers of almost all institutions, even as independent a body as the ECP is perceived to be under some influence of the executive. This warrants that the poll body accept the offer wholeheartedly and take direct charge of NADRA and the FIA, so that its job is made all the more easier and the findings of its investigation are accepted without a hint of doubt or suspicion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2013.

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