Cutthroat competition: PTI says govt using state machinery to rig by-polls

Party calls for rangers to be deployed at polling stations

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Friday called for rangers to be deployed at polling stations over the course of the forthcoming by-elections.

The demand was put forward at a joint press conference of provincial and district party leaders organised to dispel rumours of intraparty bickering. The PTI alleged that the government had been using administrative machinery to rig the polls. The PTI also said that it would bring the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) attention to the disbursement of development funds ahead of the elections.

Provincial organiser Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar alleged that the government had been using administrative machinery. He said this amounted to pre-poll rigging. “We are not just competing with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) but also a (hostile) state apparatus and the bureaucracy,” the former governor said. He said the party had asked for rangers to be deployed at polling stations in the wake of the government’s attempts to rig the elections. Sarwar said the government had provided Rs20 million to each of its candidates contesting the elections.

He said the by-polls did not merely represent a contest between the PTI and the PML-N but also between change and stats quo. “The time is ripe to bring about a change,” Sarwar said. He said party workers had been in the run up to the elections. “The difference between the PTI and the PML-N is that we have been training our workers to spot and prevent electoral rigging while the PML-N had been training its activists to rig elections,” he said.

Leader of Opposition in the Provincial Assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said the party would take up the matter of funds’ disbursement with the ECP on Monday. He said funds were being distributed to influence the elections. Rasheed said this was unconstitutional. “We want to prevent development work from being carried out before the polls,” he said. Rasheed said he had tried to take up the matter in the PA but had been prevented from doing so. He claimed that the government had distributed funds to the tune of Rs7 billion.

The party also announced the organisation of a rally in NA-122 on September 6 to pay homage to those martyred in the 1965 Pakistan-India War.

Deputy Organizer Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Lahore organizer Shafqat Mahmood, political advisor Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry and party leaders Yasmin Rashid, Hamid Zaman, Hamid Khan, Hammad Azhar, Mian Aslam, Aleem Khan and Shoaib Siddiqi were also present at the conference.

US consul general calls on Sarwar

Sarwar said the United States of America must prevail on India to prevent ceasefire violations along the working boundary.

The former governor was speaking to US Consul General Zachary Harkenrider. Sarwar said unrelenting violations across the boundary by India had resulted in scores of fatalities. He said Pakistanis had rendered great sacrifices in the war against terrorism. Sarwar said the nations of the world should support Pakistan in its struggle against terrorism.

Harkenrider said the US had always supported Pakistan in its struggle against terrorism. He said it respected the sacrifices rendered by the nation in this regard. Harkenrider said the United States would continue to support projects that would culminate in the development and prosperity of Pakistan. He said peace and prosperity could only be promoted after the region had been rid of terrorism.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2015.