LAHORE, Feb 11: For some unknown reasons, the district returning officer (DRO) has failed to finalize the judicial inquiry into theft of 5,000 ballot papers for the by-election in PP-147.

The inquiry was initiated on Jan 14, when the chief election commissioner (CEC) postponed the by-election in PP-147 on the complaint that some 5,000 blank ballot papers were missing.

Sources told Dawn on Tuesday that the judicial inquiry was yet to be concluded formally. For some unknown reasons, the DRO has neither drafted the formal conclusions of the judicial exercise nor has he forwarded his findings to the concerned quarters, an official in the DRO office disclosed on anonymity.

He said the constitution of a parallel inquiry commission by the CEC might have affected the progress of the judicial inquiry, but there was still no bar on the DRO probe.

“There has been no progress in the inquiry proceedings for the last two weeks. It was halted when the by-elections were held on Jan 26,” said the official.

Sources, however, expressed their inability to confirm whether the only reason for the incomplete judicial inquiry was the CEC inquiry. “It is hard to figure out the exact reason for the delay in the submission of inquiry report, as the DRO has not spoken to anybody about the matter following the departure of CEC’s inquiry commission, which held a five-day inquiry in Lahore,” said one official, who worked closely with the DRO during the judicial probe.

The returning officer for PP-147, Mehr Mohammad Nawaz, was transferred to another city before the by-elections in PP-147, after he and his assistant had refused to appear before the CEC’s inquiry commission.

Both the officials took the plea that they had already testified before the DRO and that the election commission should have sought permission from the Lahore High Court before approaching them for recording their statements.

The ballot papers for the re-scheduled by-elections on PP-147 were printed in Islamabad under the supervision of the election commission whereas previously, the DRO had supervised the printing and distribution of ballot papers.

The DRO recorded statements of over 20 witnesses including the provincial election commissioner, the returning officer, officials of provincial election commission and employees of the printing press where the ballot papers were printed. He also visited the press building and seized its visitors’ register.