ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday rescheduled the by-election on a National Assembly seat in Daska for April 10. Earlier, March 18 was set for re-polling in NA-75 constituency.

A statement issued by the ECP on Wednesday said the decision had been taken to make the process of re-polling more transparent and foolproof.

The decision came after the Punjab government informed the ECP that all district and divisional officers had been suspended or transferred and new officers would require some time to understand the administrative situation and keep it under complete control.

The ECP ordered immediate appointment of officers against all vacant administrative posts and fixed April 10 as the new date for re-polling.

ECP says decision has been taken to ensure transparency in re-polling

The ECP had voided the by-election in NA-75, Daska, on Feb 25 after clashes between workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-N and mysterious disappearance of around 20 presiding officers and suspected tampering with the results and ordered re-polling in the entire constituency on March 18.

The decision was announ­ced by a five-member bench of the commission on a petition filed by PML-N candidate in the constituency Nousheen Iftikhar.

The ECP withheld the results after the re-polling as presiding officers in the constituency had gone missing for over seven hours and top officials of the district administration and police were unavailable to help recover the allegedly abducted officers.

The short order read out by Chief Election Commis­sioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said: “The arguments heard and record perused. From the perusal of available record produced by the parties, the returning officer, as well as collected by the commission through different sources, we have come to the conclusion that a conducive environment was not available for the candidates and voters of the constituency, and the election in the subject constituency has not been conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in a transparent manner; incidents of murders, firing and injuries, bad law and order situation in the subject constituency created harassment for voters and other circumstances, leading to make the process of results doubtful/unascertainable.”

“This commission in the exercise of powers under Article 218(3) of the Constitution read with Section 9(1) of the Elections Act, 2017, declares the poll held on 19.02.21 in the subject constituency (NA-75, Daska, Sialkot) as void and orders fresh poll/re-poll in the entire constituency on 18th March, 2021.”

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2021