Bar on female voters : Activists demand fresh polls in Dir

Urge ECP to withhold official notification in PK-95 until their petition is decided

ISLAMABAD: Civil society members have demanded fresh polls in the PK-95 Lower Dir constituency after reports that women were barred from voting in the recent by-election for the seat.

The activists gathered outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) head office on Constitution Avenue, demanding that the ECP declare the polls null and void as women were denied their fundamental right to vote.

They have also petitioned the commission to order fresh polls in the constituency as nearly 54,000 registered women voters were allegedly kept away from the electoral process.

Izazul Mulk of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) won the May 7 by-election on the seat vacated by JI chief Sirajul Haq after his election to the Senate. Mulk was backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which did not field a candidate.

It was alleged that ahead of the election, a local jirga, with the consent of political and religious parties in the area, had prohibited women from casting votes.

The ECP secretary assured the protesters that the petition would be placed before the chairman and the civil society would be consulted on the issue.

Addressing the gathering, civil society activist and Awami Workers Party vice-president Dr Farzana Bari said that besides ordering fresh polls, action should also be taken against the jirga that decided to bar women from the process.

“It is totally illegal, unacceptable, and a blatant violation of fundamental rights. The government should investigate and bring those responsible to justice,” Bari said.

Tahira Abdullah, one of the petitioners, asked whether the ECP had stationed women as polling and presiding staff at each of the women’s polling stations and whether they were present or absent.

She also demanded that political parties that contested the election should inform the citizens whether or not their female political agents were present at women’s polling stations. If not, she said, this would be sufficient evidence that the political parties knew beforehand of the written or spoken agreement to silence 54,000 registered women voters.

Aimal Khan of Sungi Development Foundation demanded that the ECP withhold the official notification of the winner, which has yet to be issued, until a decision is taken on the petition they submitted to the ECP.

PTI’s Fauzia Kasuri was also at the protest. She told The Express Tribune, that PTI’s gender justice policy was clear and guaranteed rights to women without any discrimination. She said her party had already condemned the incident.

Earlier Kasuri told the gathering that no one had the right to disenfranchise women from the electoral process. “Democracy in Pakistan cannot flourish if women are denied the fundamental right to vote,” she said, adding that fresh polls were needed in the constituency as a huge chunk of registered voters were unable to participate in the electoral process.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2015.