Up in flames: Election material goes up in smoke

Fire in school only burned documents for by-elections, local polls: ECP

LAHORE:

Material belonging to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was destroyed in a blaze at a government school in the Lower Mall area on Monday. The fire broke out in the basement of Central Model School, Ratigan Road, in the afternoon. Students and staff were evacuated as firefighters managed to douse the blaze after a few hours.

However, PTI leader Mehmoodur Rasheed accused the Punjab government of deliberately destroying the material to hide evidence of rigging in the 2013 elections. He asked for an explanation for the blaze and a list of materials burned in the fire.



The basement was being used to store ECP material for the last few years and school officials said they rented the basement to the ECP after the May 2013 elections. Material, including ink, ballot boxes and stamps were also stored here, the school officials said. Firefighters were unable to determine the cause of the blaze. Rescue 1122 spokesperson Jam Sajjad said the fire was controlled before all the ECP material was gutted and half the material was saved.

The ECP clarified that material of vital importance was not stored at the school and only additional materials, including forms, ballot boxes and stationery were kept here. “The material in the school was not in use and was for the upcoming by-elections and local bodies elections,” ECP Deputy Director Abdul Hameed said at the site of the fire. Material for the general elections was not affected, he added.

Hameed said it is routine to store election material in government schools and permission was sought from the Punjab government in this regard. “The commission had been using the basement for storage purposes temporarily and had rented it out,” he added. He stated that the commission is estimating the losses caused to their material by the fire and will inquire into the incident. Acting election commissioner Khaliqur Rehman reiterated that no record of the 2013 elections had been present at the site.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2014.