ISLAMABAD: The Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has recommended punitive action against a returning officer (RO) and a treasury officer (TO) for their negligence in collecting, depositing and maintaining some polling record in the National Assembly constituency NA-110 in Sialkot.

On June 20, a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, hearing an application of the losing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate Usman Dar had ordered ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad to submit a written report on action taken by the commission against those responsible for the missing election record of 29 polling stations.

The seat was clinched by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif of the PML-N during the 2013 elections.

The PTI candidate’s counsel Dr Babar Awan had highlighted that the National Database and Registration Authority in its forensic report had missed out 29 polling stations whose aggregate came to 30,000 votes, which could affect the result of the elections.

In a report submitted by the secretary, the ECP contended that in compliance with earlier directives, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sardar Muhammad Raza had appointed the Dir­ector General of Adminis­tration, retired Brig Abbas Ali Khan, to conduct an inquiry.

The RO and the TO had committed errors due to lack of focus on detail, the inquiry report conceded, highlighting that under the rules of the Representation of People Act, letters must be written to their departments with a request to initiate action against the officials.

The report said the procedural lapses pointed out in the inquiry should be addressed by achieving a higher level of training of all officials and staff engaged in election duties for better management.

In the light of the recommendations of the inquiry, the Lahore High Court’s registrar and the Punjab accou­n­tant general had been requ­ested to initiate proper action against the then RO and TO under the relevant rules and intimate the ECP, it said.

It was observed during the inquiry that necessary instructions and rules with regard to depositing, collecting and maintaining the polling record were not followed in true spirit.

Had these instructions been adhered to, the problems would not have arisen, the report said and added that in future, every effort would be made to ensure that they were followed in letter and spirit.

The polling officer whose bags and record were missing stated that the votes, forms and other material had been properly sealed and handed over to the returning officer who had accepted them without any observation.

Thus there was a lapse on part of the RO where he should have deposited the polling bags in the treasury with a detailed inventory list accounting for each bag after the elections, the inquiry report conceded.

Subsequently, shifting and re-shifting of polling bags should have been done in a more diligent manner and strictly in accordance with the inventory list, it said.

The report assured the court that it would be ensured in future that detailed inventory lists were maintained.

The RO must be asked to explain why detailed inventory lists were not provided, the report suggested.

Similarly, the TO, who now had been posted out, needed to be summoned to clarify the procedure according to which he had received the bags in the treasury in the absence of a detailed inventory, it said.

Had the detailed inventory been prepared, chances of the polling bags getting lost would have been minimised, it said and added that apparently, there was a lapse on the part of the TO in accepting all the election material in bulk against a letter on which a “receiving” endorsement was made.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2016

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