Protests mar elections in KP

Published March 6, 2015
Polling remains suspended for over five hours in KP.—DawnNews screen grab
Polling remains suspended for over five hours in KP.—DawnNews screen grab

PESHAWAR: The polling for Senate elections remained suspended for over five hours in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday because of noisy protests, with the treasury and opposition members accusing each other of violating the ECP’s code of conduct.

The opposition members accused the Election Commission of Pakistan of failing to implement its code of conduct as, according to them, its staff allowed the government lawmakers to cast votes in a manner that was in clear violation of the code.

Twenty-five candidates were in the run for 12 Senate seats, causing an intense political fight between treasury and opposition blocs.


Polling remains suspended for over five hours


Only one of the 124 MPAs could not cast his vote. Javed Nasim, who had been expelled from the PTI for seconding nomination papers of independent candidate Waqar Ahmad Khan, did not turn up. Before the suspension of the polling, only 10 to 12 votes could be cast.

An air of restlessness gripped the assembly hall right from the commencement of the polling. The opposition parties held a noisy protest in front of the presiding officer and accused the government of using unfair means to influence its voters.

The agitation caused a pandemonium in the hall and forced the provincial election commissioner to suspend the polling at around 10.30am. It was restarted at about 4.15pm after the treasury and opposition parties reached an agreement following an intense process of back-to-back meetings.

Haji Adeel, a candidate of the Awami National Party for a general seat, told journalists that the opposition members had lodged a complaint with the election commissioner because the government lawmakers were not following rules.

Each ballot paper contained four leaves, one each for as many categories of Senate seats — general, technocrat, minority and women.

According to the ECP code inscribed on a banner displayed in the assembly hall, the voters were required to put each of the four leaves of their respective ballot paper in the voting box separately, showing stamped sides of the leaves to the election commissioner.

Haji Adeel said the opposition parties had raised the objection after they found that the government MPAs were neither showing the stamped sides to the election commissioner nor casting the ballot papers separately.

KP Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani rejected the allegation and said the opposition parties had started the agitation because they wanted to buy time to get ‘desired results’.

“The opposition parties were frustrated because the ‘traders’ (wealthy candidates) could not succeed in fulfilling mischievous endeavours,” he said while talking to Dawn.

It was alleged that some opposition parties, including the PPP, Qaumi Watan Party and JUI-F, had fielded wealthy candidates despite their low representation in the KP Assembly.

On the other hand, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, plagued by groupings and dissension, was under pressure and lacked preparation for the elections.

Apart from threatening to dissolve the provincial assembly as part of its strategy to secure maximum number of seats, the PTI also reportedly looped in the PML-N to avoid defeat.

During the course of political stalemate on Thursday, a brawl between the ruling and opposition lawmakers also took place in the assembly, leading to suspension of polling for over five hours.

Maulana Lutfur Rehman, younger brother of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was a candidate, alleged that provincial minister Ikramullah Khan Gandapur and Ziaullah Afridi of the PTI and Saeed Gul of Jamaat-i-Islami had obtained the original ballot papers but put fake papers in the ballot box.

He said the government lawmakers had refused to show the official code mark rubber stamp on the back of ballot papers to the presiding officer. The PTI and JI MPAs put four ballot papers in the box, instead of casting them separately.

“We have asked the polling staff to open the ballot box to ascertain the fact but the government MPAs protested,” the Maulana said. He claimed that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, during a meeting with the opposition, admitted tampering with the ballot papers.

ANP leader Syed Jafar Shah claimed that five ‘blank’ ballot papers were found when boxes were opened at night.

The assembly hall echoed with slogans when MPAs were casting their vote. The prolong deadlock forced the commission to extend the polling time till 8pm.

Presiding officer Musarrat Khan announced that the MPAs present in the polling premises could cast their vote till the extended time.

Musarrat Khan, who is also provincial election commissioner, had to suspend the process after four opposition parties — JUI-F, Qaumi Watan Party, PPP and ANP — accused lawmakers of the PTI and Jamaat- i-Islami of tampering with the ballot papers.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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