Alleged rigging: PTI seeks action against ‘biased’ commission

PTI counsel says commission had found irregularities in the election records but no forged ballots

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s counsel Advocate Anees Ali Hashmi filed a petition before Tribunal Judge Kazim Ali Malik on Wednesday seeking action against the head of local commission, Ghulam Hussain Awan, for breach of trust, verification of the commission’s report, and re-inspection of election records of 72 polling stations. 

Hashmi said the commission had found irregularities in the election records but no forged ballots. He said Awan had said he could not establish that the elections were rigged.

Hashmi said Awan was duty-bound to be objective and hold no opinion on the matter. He was particularly not allowed to speak to the media about the report before the matter had been decided. The petitioner alleged that Awan had favoured the opposition.

Hashmi has sought re-inspection of polling bags according to the terms of reference set by the tribunal and verification of the report submitted by the commission.

Hashmi also asked for re-inspection of votes cast in 29 polling stations. He said ballot papers at nine polling stations were of different colours and sizes. He said PTI representatives present during inspection had said that the commission did not take due care, and did not notify and include most of the material evidence.

He said observations vis-à-vis the election records were ambiguous and in some cases did not correspond to the records. He said some of the grave discrepancies had not been reported.

The counsel submitted the application after cross examination of the commission.

Hashmi said election records of 61 polling stations out of 117 in PP-147 were missing. He said PTI representatives had asked the commission to make an announcement in this regard, the tribunal judge had said that he would do so after examining records of NA-122. However, when the report was submitted the commission had omitted certain irregularities. For example, Forms 14 and 15 were missing from records of most polling stations, and the thumb impressions of the presiding officer were missing on Form 14, he said. The PTI’s counsel raised reservations regarding the commission’s statements to the media.

The judge observed that lawyers for the PTI and the PML-N had turned the case into a trial by media. Hashmi asked whether Awan was in the right to have given opinions on the matter before it was decided. The judge agreed that he should not have. He fixed January 31 for further arguments.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2015.