LAHORE, Oct 12: Declaring the general election on Oct 10 to be lacking in both fairness and transparency, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed serious concern at allegations of post-poll manipulations.

In its interim report on the election issued here on Saturday, the HRCP said that reports received from the HRCP’s over 1,300 field observers, who observed the poll in 116 National Assembly constituencies across the country and closely watched the proceedings at over 500 polling stations, indicate that serious irregularities marred the polling.

In view of this, the results cannot be described as wholly representative of the will of the electorate, although they do indicate the general directions of its preferences.

The HRCP regretted that not content with its pre-poll manipulation of the electoral process, the administration seemed to have continued to tamper with it during the polling and afterwards.

HRCP decided to delay this interim report by one day because the election did not apparently end with the counting of votes. The changes occurring in the unofficially announced results have raised serious doubts about continuation of efforts to secure pre-determined results after the end of polling.

A detailed report on the conduct of election will be issued after all complaints of interference with the people’s choice and the evidence in their support have been scrutinised and evaluated. These reports, which are still coming in, show that many irregularities noticed during the polling and afterwards eroded the fairness and transparency of the election. Some of these irregularities were:

Seizure of polling station: In Sanghar district a newly transferred police officer seized a polling station, threw out candidates’ polling agents and himself stamped the ballot papers. Complaints were promptly made to the Election Commission but failed to elicit any response.

At several polling stations in Sindh and Punjab officially backed supporters of favoured candidates took control of proceedings, threatened HRCP observers with violence and barred their entry to polling booths, and stamped ballots at will.

At a polling station in Gujrat district a candidate’s henchman was found to have taken over from the Presiding Officer while the latter looked like a helpless spectator of the proceedings.

Misuse of ballots and ID cards: In Lahore a few supporters of an officially backed candidate were caught while decamping with about 100 ballot papers.

Many postal ballot papers were found in unauthorised hands.

A considerable number of freshly prepared ID cards were found in the possession of a candidate in Balochistan.

Indelible ink missing: At a number of polling stations in Gujrat and Lahore indelible ink was not put on voters’ fingers. It was alleged by the polling staff that they had not received indelible ink at all.

Flaws in polling scheme: In Kasur district no responsible authority knew where a particular polling station was.

The location of polling stations was changed at the eleventh hour in many constituencies.

In Lahore Township, two sectoral lists of voters assigned to a polling station were available neither with the polling staff nor with candidates. Several hundred voters failed to cast their votes.

The polling staff’s needs of transport, comfortable environment and security were not fully met, and the quality of material (stamping pads, etc) was poor.

Minorities’ complaints: The Ahmadis’ decision to stay out of the electoral process because they had been unjustifiably put on a separate list constituted a blot on the election process.

Reports were received from Sindh that non-Muslim voters were forcibly prevented from casting votes. At some polling stations in Punjab non-Muslim voters’ names were missing from the lists.

Confusion caused by lists: The electoral lists were incomplete, sketchy and full of errors. Their arrangement was so unsatisfactory that a large number of voters had to spend a long time to find their vote and sequence numbers and had to run from one polling station to another. Even then some did not succeed in casting their votes. Many voters complained that their names had been omitted from the lists although they had been voting in the previous elections and had not changed their residence.

Impersonation: A number of voters in Lahore complained that when they arrived at polling stations they were told that their votes had already been cast. Obviously, the use of forged ID cards or voting without such cards could not be stopped.

Post-poll complaints: Delays in computing results from even cities such as Lahore and Karachi, where poll-count statements could reach the ROs in a short time, gave rise to misgivings of tampering with the results. Serious complaints were received from several candidates that their result had been overturned through unfair tactics.

In Sindh polling was stopped at some stations but results from these stations were included in counting.

There were allegations that some presiding officers were asked to fill new vote-count statements.

The HRCP should not like to comment on the status of legislatures formed after extraordinary pre-poll manipulation and large-scale irregularities during polling because that is something to be dealt with by the contestants and their political parties. The answers to questions about restoration of democratic rule lie in future.

A more detailed document on the election 2002 will be issued as early as possible in pursuance of HRCP’s commitment to the establishment of the sanctity of the ballot, protection of the people’s political rights, and fostering of a genuinely democratic culture, all of which are integral parts of an order based on respect for human rights.