ISLAMABAD: A damning report the Election Commission of Pakistan requested the Supreme Court on Monday to dismiss the appeal of PTI candidate Asjad Malhi against the ECP decision of fresh ballot in Daska (NA-75) by-election.

The report said the appointment of government officers of the law enforcing agencies in violation of the Election Act 2017 and the elections rules, non-cooperation, interference and violations of the code of conduct by the security officials, political leaders from the contesting parties, public officials and the failure of the law enforcing agencies in ensuring a conducive environment for honest, fair and transparent elections resulted in rejection of the entire election process on Feb 19.

Thus, in exercise of powers under Article 218 (3) of the constitution read with Section 9 (1 b, 4) of the Elections Act 2017, the by-poll in Daska was declared as void and fresh vote was ordered in the entire constituency on March 18.

But, on March 3, the ECP had to postpone the re-poll date on the request of the government keeping in view the security arrangements to be made to ensure that the peaceful conduct of the elections and has been re-fixed for April 10.

With the issuance of the schedule of the elections, ECP had ordered prohibition on the commencement and carrying on of the development works at the behest of the political offices and the government in the constituency.

Unfortunately, these works continued and the complaints poured in. An inquiry to this effect was made on selected works and it revealed that the said works continued unabated, lending support to the accusations of the contesting candidates as to the interference by the government functionaries to seek support for the government candidate.

Various violations of the code of conduct by the public functionaries, government officials, leaders of the political parties, the security officials, administration and law enforcement agencies also surfaced.

The law and order situation could not be controlled by the civil administration, which ultimately led to serious violence on the day of poll in almost the entire constituency, which was taken note of.

This found support from the low turnout which materially affected the casting of votes on the date of poll by the electorate. The interference and the intermittent interruption in the polling process also supported the contentions that it resulted from the law and order situation in the constituency.

The PML-N candidate also requested the Supreme Court on to dismiss the PTI plea with cost. Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar – the PML-N candidate from NA-75, through her counsel Salman Akram Raja pleaded before the court that all those responsible for the Feb 19 conspiracy be exposed and removed from their respective offices and should be subjected to exemplary punishment in accordance with the law.

The constitution of the bench that will take up the case on Tuesday (today) has also been changed and it now consists of Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.

Earlier, the bench which heard the case consisted of Justice Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi. Justice Afridi is unavailable due to the death of his father.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2021