ISLAMABAD: The PML-N contended on Thursday that Form XV going missing from different constituencies across the country did not necessarily indicate a deliberate pattern of systematically rigging the 2013 general elections on part of the presiding officers.

Similarly, the decision to print ballot papers in excess of the total number of votes in certain constituencies was not a political decision but an administrative one. It may have been wrong, but it does not demonstrate any mal-intent or a deliberate attempt to manipulate the elections, argued PML-N counsel Shahid Hamid.

Offering a defence against allegations levelled by the PTI, Mr Hamid asked the three-judge inquiry commission — headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk — to issue strict guidelines to prevent such irregularities from happening in future elections.

Talking about the role of the judiciary in the conduct of these elections, Mr Hamid regretted that the judiciary had been made controversial, attacked and savaged. It was quite hurtful when the PML-Q counsel “abused” the role of the ROs.

He also referred to the ECP’s Sept 2012 meeting with 16 political parties, including the PML-N, PTI, PML-Q, who appreciated the commission’s open-door policy aimed at making the electoral process more transparent. It was only after agreement at this meeting that the National Judicial Policy Making Committee allowed judicial officers to be borrowed by ECP to conduct the elections.

Former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry later agreed to appoint judicial officers as ROs after ensuring that political parties have complete confidence in them.

During proceedings, the chief justice asked the counsel to read the speech, made by the former chief justice before the ROs, which was attacked by the PML-Q counsel, though the attack was later rescinded.

When the speech was read out by Mr Hamid, it emerged that the former chief justice had said nothing unusual or illegal in his address.

Mr Hamid stressed that judicial officers never had any ulterior motives and no evidence was produced to establish that the ROs manipulated the elections, save for horrifying allegations that were levelled without evidence. “We can safely conclude that no illegality can be attributed to the ROs,” the counsel concluded.

Mr Hamid explained that the percentage of missing Form XV, retrieved after election bags were opened on the directions of the commission, was 42.5 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; 45.9 per cent in Sindh, 48 per cent in Balochistan and only 28.8 per cent in Punjab. This, he said, did not reflect a deliberate pattern aimed to rig the elections, adding that Punjab’s record was much better than any of the other provinces.

Referring to the decision to leave the number of ballots to be printed up to the ROs’ discretion, Mr Hamid said that this was actually a wise move by the provincial election commissioner of Punjab, since ROs reduced the overall estimated number of ballots to be printed to 52 million from the originally estimated 53.2 million.

Besides, he argued, the that ROs from 11 constituencies — who had appeared before the commission — had admitted that they did not distribute all the ballot papers, rather excess quantities were inventoried and then deposited with the treasury.

He said that a total of 177 million ballots were printed against an initial assessment of around 182 million.

He also pointed out that out of a total of 272 National Assembly seats, the results of elections to 135 were never challenged and out of the 137 that were contested before election tribunals, 112 of the petitions were dismissed, 15 were allowed and 10 were still pending.

Of the 127 cases that were disposed, 20 were appealed before the Supreme Court, of which six cases had been decided and 14 were still pending. This meant, he said, that 90 per cent of the results stood confirmed.

Similarly, he said that out of a total of 577 seats in the four provincial assemblies, elections to 307 seats were never challenged. Of the 270 that were, 216 cases were dismissed, 36 allowed and 17 were still pending. The Supreme Court has decided 28 appeals and is still seized with 49 cases, meaning that the results of 523 of the 577 seats now stood confirmed.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

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