ISLAMABAD: Politicians and representatives of different political parties on Wednesday failed to produce any evidence before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to prove their allegations about alleged horse-trading and use of money in the recently held Senate polls.

A faction of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) led by Dr Farooq Sattar submitted a list of its six MPAs who had allegedly sold their votes, but did not provide any concrete proof to prove the charges.

After failing to get any solid evidence, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza asked the parliamentarians to help identify those who indulged in horse-trading so that the commission could take necessary action.

Chief election commissioner asks parliamentarians to help identify wrongdoers

“Selling and buying of votes is a crime. We want you to help us,” the CEC said while adjourning the hearing till April 4. Taking notice of reports in the media about alleged horse-trading in the March 3 Senate elections, the ECP had summoned Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Engineer Amir Muqam, leaders of two factions of the MQM-P Dr Farooq Sattar and Khawaja Izharul Hassan, Pak Sarzameen Party’s (PSP) Raza Haroon, MNA from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Shahabuddin and PML-N MPA from Punjab Uzma Bokhari who had issued statements through media questioning the fairness of the exercise.

Except for Imran Khan and Dr Farooq Sattar, who had sent their representatives, the remaining recipients of the notice were present before the five-member commission on Wednesday.

Mr Khan was represented by his counsel Shahid Gondal whereas Dr Sattar was represented by S.A. Iqbal Qadri and Sheikh Salahuddin.

Mr Gondal informed the commission that the PTI had already constituted an inquiry committee to identify those MPAs who had voted for the rival parties during the Senate elections in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. He said the party would submit a request to the ECP for an action against the MPAs after completion of the inquiry.

PML-N’s Uzma Bukhari said PTI’s newly-elected senator from Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar had himself stated on a TV show that six PML-N MPAs had voted for him.

“Can the ECP do something?” she asked.

“We will do with your cooperation, whatever we can do,” responded the CEC, adding that it was unfortunate that both the sellers and buyers of the votes were parliamentarians.

Iqbal Qadri of the MQM-P said the party had submitted documents about rigging in the elections.

Talking to reporters, Sheikh Salahuddin of the MQM said that they had not only submitted the evidence but also provided the names of their members who had indulged in horse-trading.

Sources told Dawn that the MQM-P had alleged in the documents that its MPAs Heer Soho, Saleem Rajput, Shazia Javed, Naila Munir, Sumeta Afzal and Naheed Begum had voted for the rival candidates. It says that the party had already issued show-cause notices to these MPAs and now it is the responsibility of the ECP to hold an investigation and “de-seat” them.

Talking to reporters outside the ECP, Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said the ECP could seek the assistance from various institutions under the laws to hold investigations into the charges of horse-trading. She called PTI chief Imran Khan and PPP leader Asif Zardari “the two kings of horse-trading”.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2018