February 19, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 11, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 18: The general elections for National Assembly constituency NA-253 and provincial assembly seats PS-118 and -126 became the most disputed seats in district East as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan’s People’s Party (PPP) hurled serious allegations of rigging at each other and the polling process was marred by misleading administrative measures and continuous disruption, which raises questions about the transparency and fairness of the electoral process as a whole.

Juma Goth is a strong vote-bank of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), although the seat was taken by Asadullah Bhutto of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) in the 2002 elections, with Prof Dr Mohammed Fahimuddin of the MQM in the runner-up position. Voters there were incensed by the fact that polling started at 1:30pm instead of the scheduled 8:00am. The presiding officer, Tufail Ahmed, said that he and his staff were first sent to a far-flung polling station in another goth. “We waited there for several hours but nobody turned up. Finally, the returning officer told us that we ought to have been taken to Juma Goth,” he explained. “Then we waited another couple of hours for the police mobile to come and take us and the election materials to the polling station in government boy’s school in Juma Goth.”

He also expressed anger about the treatment meted out to him at the Urdu University on Sunday evening as the election materials were handed over. Confirming that 21,000 votes were registered in the polling station, he expressed the hope that adequate time would be given to make up for the hours lost due to the administrative mishandling.

However, Mr Ahmed’s explanation failed to placate the voters who waited outside the polling station for hours on end. Amongst the people standing in the long queue outside the Government Sindhi Boys Primary School Juma Goth, Bhattiabad, was 71-year-old Rehmatullah Brohi. Being visually impaired, he was assisted to the polling station by his grandchild and was vociferous in his anger at the delays in the polling process. Similarly another voter, Zulfiqar, accused the election staff managing the polling station of being non-qualified.

When Juma Goth’s experience is seen in the context of other instances of administrative slips, the confusion takes on an intentional rather than logistical hue. A visit to Groomwell School of Block 16-A, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, presented a picture of utter chaos and an election staff under severe pressure. Polling had started at 10:30am because, according to the presiding officer Mohammed Mohsin Khan, he and his staff were first sent to the Geological Survey of Pakistan.

There were two polling stations in Groomwell School and the presiding officer of the second one also appeared under pressure.

‘MQM took over polling station’

Polling in Malir and Gulistan-i-Jauhar was monitored by a former PPP MNA, Rubina Saadat Qaimkhani. She claimed that entire polling stations had been occupied by armed MQM activists.

She told Dawn that she was visiting the Falconhouse Grammar School in Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s block 7 when, at 4:00pm, youths belonging to the MQM brought in pocketfuls of ballot papers. She objected and asked the police to intervene, but a little while later men brandishing AK-47s arrived and practically took over the polling station. The police and Rangers, she said, simply took off.

“If the law enforcement agencies can’t face them, how is the ordinary voter supposed to feel safe?” she pointed out. “It’s no use taking part in these rigged elections; we are already disheartened after Benazir Bhutto’s death and if our activists raise the ‘Pakistan na khapay’ slogan, don’t expect much good from us.”

PPP’s candidate for NA-253, Faisal Raza Abidi, was much harsher in his criticism of the MQM and the president of Pakistan, and accused the police and Rangers of being subservient to the MQM. “Our men caught an MQM activist in the possession of 500 bogus votes in Gadap,” he told Dawn. “The man was handed over to the police.” He described the elections in his constituency as “rigged to the core” condemned the power nexus with the words “Down with Pervez Musharraf and down with Altaf Hussain.”

‘Stuffing of ballot boxes’

But Mr Abidi is himself accused of manhandling a presiding officer of a polling station set up in the union council office in Gulistan-e-Jauhar (NA-253).

The incident was witnessed by the other presiding officer, Dr Khaliq, who told Dawn that he would have suffered the same fate had he not locked the door to his office from the inside. “It was sad indeed to see a candidate for the National Assembly hurling abuse at the election staff,” he said. Dr Khalid explained that Mr Abidi had believed that intentional and calculated delays were being created in the polling process whereas in fact, the delays had been caused by the large turnout and the fact that it takes time to cast votes. He added that the police and Rangers were called in but Mr Abidi had left by that time.

Rangers personnel remained on guard in the corridors of the polling station, which was also visited later by the MQM candidate for the seat, Haider Abbas Rizvi. At least 2,827 votes were registered at the polling station in the union council office, which was divided into three booths for the elections.

Meanwhile, the Pakhtoon wing of the MQM managed the party’s election campaign in Pehlwan Goth, where the MQM does not enjoy a strong vote bank.

The party’s provincial assembly candidate, Faisal Subzwari, toured his constituency flanked by police guards, and told Dawn that MQM polling agents had been thrown out of several polling stations in various goths. He said that he found stuffed ballot boxes when he rushed to these polling stations.

“When the doors were forced open with the help of police and Rangers’ personnel, we found 40 to 50 people stuffing the ballot boxes,” he said, alleging that similar situations had prevailed in Lasi, Ayub Goth and the Geological Survey of Pakistan polling stations.