ISLAMABAD: The poll inquiry commission ordered the Election Commission (ECP) on Monday to furnish Forms-15 of 12 National Assembly constituencies where the number of ballot papers printed exceeded that of registered voters.
The three-judge inquiry commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, asked ECP counsel Salman Akram Raja to submit the forms at the next hearing.
The inquiry commission sought forms of the following constituencies: NA-21 (Mansehra) where PML-N’s Muhammad Safdar won and the percentage of excess ballot papers printed was 16, NA-34 (Lower Dir) where Muhammad Yaqub of the Jamaat-i-Islami won and 17pc extra ballot papers were printed, NA-43 (Fata) where independent candidate Bismillah Khan won (13pc extra ballot papers), NA-48 (Islamabad) of PTI’s Asad Umar (9pc), NA-53 (Rawalpindi) of PTI’s Ghulam Sarwar (19pc), NA-118 (Lahore) of PML-N’s Riaz Malik (17pc), NA-119 (Lahore) of PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz (21pc), NA-125 (Lahore) of PML-N’s Saad Rafique (28pc), NA-130 (Lahore) of PML-N’s Sohail Butt (25pc), NA-157 (Khanewal) of PML-N’s Mohammad Khan Daha (20pc), NA-171 (D.G. Khan) of PML-N’s Amjad Farooq Khosa (17pc) and NA-222 (Hyderabad) of PPP’s Naveed Qamar (10pc).
After the ECP provides all the forms which could not be retrieved by the judicial officers from the treasuries record, the inquiry commission may also consider on Tuesday summoning the returning officers (ROs) to justify their requisition for printing the excess ballot papers.
Advocate Raja said copies of Form-15 (ballot paper account) were retained by the ROs after putting them into the election material sacks and they were part of official record and could be provided when requested.
The chief justice said the commission could not get a clue regarding the unused ballot papers since 40 to 50pc of the forms, which could have given a clear picture, were missing.
Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s counsel, said about 90 million ballot papers were unaccounted for.
He said if the commission came to the conclusion that sanctity of the ballot papers had been preserved, the matter would end there. Otherwise, many questions would arise, rendering the entire exercise of consolidation of results by ROs null and void.
Poll inquiry commission may summon ROs to justify requisition for printing excess ballot papers
Referring to a fresh application filed by the PTI, he said fingers were being pointed at him for delaying the proceedings, but it was the duty of ROs at the time of consolidation of election results to tally the number of ballot papers with the election material’s packing invoice.
The lawyer urged the commission to order the National Database and Registration Authority to submit pre-scanning reports as these could help determine how many ballot papers had been used.
Shahid Hamid, the PML-N’s counsel, said the reports would not be of much help and the commission should peruse the Forms-14 and 15, sent to the ROs by the polling officers at the end of the polling day and now in the hands of the ECP, since they were also official documents.
The commission also referred to a report submitted by senior counsel K.K. Agha, appointed amicus curiae in the case, who visited the treasury office of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Rawalpindi on June 2 along with the district and sessions judges concerned when the relevant staff were searching for the Forms-15 in the election record.
The report said the chamber where the record was kept was very small and dusty and there was barely adequate space to store the election bags. The bags of NA-48 and 49, of Islamabad, were placed in a disorganised manner. There were white, khaki and blue bags which appeared surprising because there were no provincial assembly seats in Islamabad and hence no need for khaki bags.
Most of the bags either were tied by ropes or were sealed, but they might have broken or loosened when the sacks had to be pulled out of the pile in which they were stacked to ascertain the constituency whose material they contained, it said. This was an arduous process but the bags did not appear to be damaged or split open.
In Rawalpindi, there bags from seven constituencies of the National Assembly and 14 of the Punjab Assembly, the report said.
Despite small rooms and cramped conditions the staff were checking the bags in within them rather than moving them elsewhere. They opened the bags and fished out the tamper evident bags containing Form-15 if it was visible. If it was not visible, the bag was emptied and the staff searched through the contents. Thereafter, the bag was resealed.
The commission also recorded the witness statement of former caretaker chief minister of Balochistan Ghous Bux Barouzai who admitted that he had alleged that his brother Baro Khan Barouzai had lost the elections for the provincial assembly seat PB-21 because of interference of then chief secretary Babar Yaqoob.
He said he had made no recommendations to the chief secretary to carry out extensive transfers and postings of the civil servants in the province.
He admitted that although he had not levelled any allegation of rigging after the election, but had used the word “Ustadi” (trickery).
Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2015
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