Tag: ECP

  • Daska by-polls: RO proposes re-polling at 14 stations over discrepancies in results

    Daska by-polls: RO proposes re-polling at 14 stations over discrepancies in results

    Daska (NA-75) by-polls Returning Officer Athar Abbas has proposed re-polling at 14 stations, saying the presiding officers were seemingly involved in tampering with the final result.

    During his appearance before the Election Commission of Pakistan committee on Tuesday, Abbas said that the initial investigation has revealed that the presiding officers manipulated the result. The ECP has taken up a plea filed by PML-N candidate from the constituency Nousheen Iftikhar. The five-member bench which heard the case was headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

    According to the PML-N candidate, she got 5,000 votes from the contested polling stations against PTI leader Ali Asjad Malhi’s 6,705 votes. The number of rejected votes was 139 and turnout remained at 45.16 per cent.

    Whereas, the form-45 sent in by presiding officers after a delay of six hours showed that the vote gap between the PML-N and PTI candidates was 9,263 instead of 1,705. The form puts the number of rejected votes at 1,731 and the turnout at 75.34pc.

    The RO’s report quoted by Dawn said at least 20 presiding officers went missing for an entire night after the vote count at their station. It added that the presiding officers also appeared before the ECP panel after much delay.

    “The replies of almost all the presiding officers were stereotype that they were able to complete the counting process by 10 to 10.30pm and started back journey to the office of returning officer on the transport provided by the Election Commission and in escort of police but due to fog, they reached the office of returning officer at about 4.30am and most of them stated their phone batteries were low and they were having no chargers, in response to the questions that they were supposed to send snapshots of the result of the count through WhatsApp but they did not do the same,” the report read.

    As per the report, there was no discrepancy in the record of three out of 23 polling stations from where the presiding officers had disappeared. The returning officer has proposed re-polling at 14 polling stations were there was a marked difference between the number of polled votes in two different sets of form-45.

    On Friday, at least two people were shot dead as a result of firing at the polling place. Both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had alleged irregularities during the by-election on the National Assembly seat in Daska. Subsequently, the ECP withheld the results, saying it suspected irregularities in 20 polling stations.

    The commission had said results of the NA-75 constituency were received with “unnecessary delay”, adding that it tried to contact the presiding officers several times but with no success.

    In the backdrop of these allegations, the PM, in a series of tweet on Monday night, reaffirmed his pledge to hold transparent elections in Pakistan. “Have always struggled for fair & free elections. So even though there is no legal compulsion to do so before ECP announces results, I would request our PTI candidate to ask for re-polling in the 20 polling stations Opposition is crying hoarse over in the Daska NA 75 by- election,” Imran had tweeted.

  • ‘Siyanay’: Maryam reacts to PM Imran’s demand for re-polling in NA-75

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan after the latter said he would ask the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate in Daska by-polls to demand re-polling in 20 polling stations of the constituency amid rigging allegations.

    On Friday, at least two people were shot dead as a result of firing at the polling place. Both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had alleged irregularities during the by-election on the National Assembly seat in Daska. Subsequently, the ECP withheld the results, saying it suspected irregularities in 20 polling stations.

    The commission had said results of the NA-75 constituency were received with “unnecessary delay”, adding that it tried to contact the presiding officers several times but with no success.

    In the backdrop of these allegations, the PM, in a series of tweet on Monday night, reaffirmed his pledge to hold transparent elections in Pakistan. “Have always struggled for fair & free elections. So even though there is no legal compulsion to do so before ECP announces results, I would request our PTI candidate to ask for re-polling in the 20 polling stations Opposition is crying hoarse over in the Daska NA 75 by- election,” Imran had tweeted.

    “It is because we want transparency that we are seeking open ballot for Senate elections,” said Imran in reference to the upcoming elections in Senate that have become controversial after the government promulgated an ordinance to end secret ballot amid protests by the opposition.

    But the PML-N VP who had alleged irregularities in the by-election took exception to the remarks made by the PM. She said that the premier was trying to hide rigging by making such claims.

    “Don’t try to be a know-it-all. You tried to manipulate elections using the full force of the state machinery, but when you lost the by-election you abducted the staffer of the Election Commission. Your decision to support re-polling is an attempt to hide your crime [of rigging], but you have been caught red-handed. Vote thief,” she wrote on her Twitter handle.

  • PM endorses re-polling in 20 Daska polling stations amid rigging allegations

    PM endorses re-polling in 20 Daska polling stations amid rigging allegations

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has endorsed re-polling in 20 polling stations in NA-75 amid allegations of irregularities by the opposition and the Election Commission of Pakistan’s subsequent decision to withhold the election result.

    On Friday, at least two people were shot dead as a result of firing at the polling place. Both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had alleged irregularities during the by-election on the National Assembly seat in Daska. Subsequently, the ECP withheld the results, saying it suspected irregularities in 20 polling stations.

    The commission said results of the NA-75 constituency were received with “unnecessary delay”, adding that it tried to contact the presiding officers several times but with no success.

    PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz also took the government to the task over alleged rigging in the by-election. Speaking to reporters, the PML-N vice president said that the events that transpired in the aftermath of voting in Daska have exposed the PTI government. She had said the government’s alleged plan to steal votes was foiled by people who guarded their vote.

    The PML-N vice president had accused the ruling party of taking the “20 presiding officers” hostage. She had questioned why out of the 361 polling stations, the staff of only 20 polling stations had to go missing during the “fog” and why were the results of these polling stations suddenly changed when the officers returned after 12 hours.

    In the backdrop of these allegations, the PM, in a series of tweet, reaffirmed his pledge to hold transparent elections in Pakistan. “Have always struggled for fair & free elections. So even though there is no legal compulsion to do so before ECP announces results, I would request our PTI candidate to ask for re-polling in the 20 polling stations Opposition is crying hoarse over in the Daska NA 75 bye- election,” Imran tweeted.

    “It is because we want transparency that we are seeking open ballot for Senate elections,” said Imran in reference to the upcoming elections in Senate that have become controversial after the government promulgated an ordinance to end secret ballot amid protests by the opposition.

    “Unfortunately others lack this commitment. When we wanted 4 constituencies opened after the 2013 elections, it took us over two years,” Imran said, referring to alleged rigging in 2013 election. The PTI had staged a months-long sit-in in protest against the 2013 election that saw PML-N rose to power.

  • NA-75 by-polls: Maryam joins in on ‘Pawri ho rahi ha’ trend, uses it to call out ‘rigging’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also joined in on the ‘Pawri Ho Rahi Ha’ trend, as she used it to call out alleged rigging reportedly carried out by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government during the NA-75 by-polls in Daska, Sialkot.

    ‘Pawri‘ trend went viral earlier this month, with celebrities from across the sub-continent adding to its popularity.

    During her address in Daska, Maryam said: “Yeh dhund hai, yeh Daska hai, aur Imran Khan awam ka vote chori kartay huay range haathon pakra gya hai [This is fog, this is Daska, and this is Imran Khan getting caught red-handed while stealing votes].”

    Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the PML-N vice president said that the events that transpired in the aftermath of voting in Daska have exposed the PTI government. She said the government’s alleged plan to steal votes was foiled by people who guarded their vote.

    The PML-N vice president accused the ruling party of taking the “20 presiding officers” hostage. She questioned why out of the 361 polling stations, the staff of only 20 polling stations had to go missing during the “fog” and why were the results of these polling stations suddenly changed when the officers returned after 12 hours.

    On Friday, at least two people were shot dead as both PML-N and the PTI alleged irregularities during the by-election on the National Assembly seat in Daska. Subsequently, the Election Commission of Pakistan withheld the results, saying it suspected irregularities in 20 polling stations.

    The commission said results of the NA-75 constituency were received with “unnecessary delay”, adding that it tried to contact the presiding officers several times but with no success.

  • Farhat Shahzadi, first lady’s friend, allegedly owns assets worth Rs700m, claims journalist

    Farhat Shahzadi, first lady’s friend, allegedly owns assets worth Rs700m, claims journalist

    After backlash, Farhat Shahzadi, a close friend of First Lady Bushra Bibi, has withdrawn her nomination papers for a Senate seat amid claims that she allegedly owns assets worth Rs70 crore, including a flat in Dubai.

    According to journalist Rauf Klasra, the properties allegedly owned by Shahzadi must be investigated, calling them a “tip of the iceberg”. He claimed that Shahzadi could be the “frontperson” of the first lady while demanding a probe into her assets.

    Shahzadi had submitted the details of her assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan at the time of the submission of her papers. According to these details, the value of her assets increased by Rs9.5 million in one year.

    She has properties in Dubai, Bahria Town, Defence Housing Authority, and Chakri, Rawalpindi. In DHA Lahore, she owns six properties worth about Rs450m; in Islamabad, she owns a flat worth Rs90m; in Dubai, she is the owner of a flat that is worth approx Rs10m.

    The PTI leader has investments in 12 different entities, whereas she has eight bank accounts in her name with millions deposited in them.

    Meanwhile, the decision to field Shahzadi as a covering candidate on a seat reserved for women didn’t go down well with the party leadership. Subsequently, she has decided against contesting the election and took her nomination papers back.

    However, at the time, PM’s aide Shahbaz Gill defended the nomination of Shahzadi. Following criticism, PM’s aide Shahbaz Gill had defended the selection of Farhat Shahzadi, saying she is a part of the PTI and has been an active political worker for many years. She is a covering candidate and it is her right, he had added.

    Earlier this week, the PTI nominated 10 candidates: Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Muhammad Khan Madni, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Robina Akhtar, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, Aon Abbas, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Ejaz Hussain Minhas, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary and Neelam Irshad Sheikh.

    Senate elections will be held on March 3.

  • Senate polls cannot remain ‘secret forever’, says SC judge

    Senate polls cannot remain ‘secret forever’, says SC judge

    Supreme Court judge Ijazul Ahsan, while hearing presidential reference pertaining to the secret ballot in the Senate elections, said that the votes cast in the election cannot remain “secret forever”.

    A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed urged Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to consider recommendations presented by Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan and submit a response to the top court. Raza Rabbani, who is representing the opposition in the case, opposed this, saying the attorney general would share the government’s point of view on the issue.

    The SC had grilled the Election Commission of Pakistan over its response on the secret ballot on Tuesday. Today, the ECP in its reply maintained that the Senate elections can only be held through secret voting under Article 226 until an amendment is made.

    As per the article, the voting in the election would “always remain secret”, the ECP informed the bench. Justice Ahsan remarked that the “secrecy of the vote till the Day of Judgement is neither in the law nor in court judgements”.

    The judge further said if any party got less number of seats in the Senate as compared to its seats in the provincial assemblies then the ECP will be responsible. “If [any party] does not get [the number of seats] in relation to its seats in the provincial assemblies, it will be the ECP’s defeat.”

    At this, the election commission tried to assuage the court’s concerns, saying the ECP has set up a vigilance committee and an online complaints centre. All election candidates will be required to take an oath that they would not buy or sell votes, the ECP representative added.

    He informed the court that more than 1,100 complaints had been received since September. “Whatever complaints the ECP receives regarding elections, action is taken on them immediately.”

    Justice Mushir Alam observed that the matter of secrecy was part of the Elections Act 2017 but the question was to what extent would secrecy be applicable.

    During the hearing, the attorney general said ECP needs to wake up from its slumber and formulate a mechanism to stop horse-trading. AGP Khan said the ECP should ask the heads of political parties whether any seat adjustment was done. Barcodes or serial numbers could be printed on ballot papers, he suggested.

    Meanwhile, the chief justice refused to entertain the Pakistan Bar Council’s plea, saying the PBC won’t be heard on political matters.

  • First lady’s friend among PTI’s Punjab candidates for Senate

    First lady’s friend among PTI’s Punjab candidates for Senate

     

    At least 29 candidates, including a close friend of the first lady, have filed their nomination papers for 11 Senate seats in Punjab with the elections scheduled to be held on March 3.

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has nominated 10 candidates: Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Muhammad Khan Madni, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Robina Akhtar, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, Aon Abbas, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Ejaz Hussain Minhas, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary and Neelam Irshad Sheikh.

    While on seats reserved for women, three candidates are fielded by PTI, including Farhat Shahzadi who is reportedly a close friend of First Lady Bushra Bibi.

    Following criticism, PM’s aide Shahbaz Gill defended the selection of Farhat Shahzadi, saying she is a part of the PTI and has been an active political workers for many years. She is a covering candidate and it is her right, he added.

    On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League has put forth Mushahid Ullah Khan, Pervaiz Rasheed, Saiful Malook Khokhar, Afnan Ullah Khan, Saud Majeed, Zahid Hamid, Sajid Mir, Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman and Irfanul Haq Siddiqui for the Senate polls.

    The Pakistan People’s Party (7 lawmakers in the house) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (10 legislators) have pitched one candidate each: PPP’s Azeem-ul-Haq Minhas and PML-Q’s Kamil Ali Agha.

    An aspirant for a general seat in Punjab requires votes of at least 53 provincial legislators.

    For the two Senate seats reserved for women, there are five candidates in the run: Zarqa Suharwardy, Farhat Shahzadi and Neelam Irshad Sheikh backed by the PTI; while two, Saadia Abbasi and Saira Afzal Tarar, are from the PML-N.

    There are three nominees for the Senate seats reserved for technocrats/Ulema. Two of them — Syed Ali Zafar and Atta Ullah Khan — belong to the PTI, whereas Azam Nazeer Tarar is a PML-N nominee.

  • Good news for Gillani after arrival at ECP with two other prime ministers

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday approved former prime minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gillani’s application to transfer his vote to Islamabad; after he arrived at the election watchdog’s office with two other former premiers.

    Gillani is reportedly being fielded for the federal capital seat in the upper house of the parliament by the join opposition, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

    The former premier’s vote has been registered at his address of Sector F-8 in Islamabad, making him eligible to contest the Senate elections from the federal capital.

    He had moved the ECP on Friday and arrived at the election watchdog’s office on Saturday with his successor Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

    Earlier, Abbasi’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced to support Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Gillani in the Senate elections.

    The decision was taken after a meeting between Abbasi and Gillani to hold consultations to field a joint candidate of the PDM.

    The two former premiers, Ashraf and Abbasi, acted as the proponent and seconder in candidate Gillani’s papers.

    Meanwhile, Farhatullah Babar has been named as PDM’s joint candidate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

  • New documents reveal PTI employees were authorised to receive donations

    New documents reveal PTI employees were authorised to receive donations

    In a watershed development in the foreign funding case, a documented list has revealed that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) employees were authorised to receive donations from within and outside Pakistan.

    The document, available with Dawn, revealed the names of employees that included PTI’s telephone operator Tahir Iqbal, computer operator Muhammad Nauman Afzal, accountant Mohammad Arshad and office helper Mohammad Rafiq.

    The decision to allow the PTI employees to collect the funds was taken at a meeting held on July 1, 2011. It was attended by Saifullah Niazi, the incumbent chief organiser and an aspirant of a PTI Senate ticket; Aamer Mahmud Kiani, present secretary-general and former health minister who was removed from the federal cabinet; Dr Humayun Mohmand, who was recently appointed chairman of the board of directors of PIMS; Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, the party’s former finance secretary and now Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Colonel Yunus Ali Raza among others.

    The foreign funding case pertains to Akbar S Babar’s allegations that foreign donations were illegally received in the front accounts of PTI employees through Hundi, particularly from the Middle East, and siphoned off by the senior party leadership through cheques with no trace or record.

    Babar was a founding member of PTI. He has repeatedly asked the scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to investigate the private bank accounts of PTI employees which were illegally used as a front to collect donations.

    The committee continues to keep the PTI records and bank statements secret despite ECP orders. The records include 23 PTI bank accounts provided to the ECP by scheduled banks on the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan. The scrutiny committee is due to meet today (on Tuesday) to decide whether to keep the PTI documents secret or not.

    The election watchdog has passed more than one order against the secrecy of the PTI record.

  • PTI takes ‘U-turn’ after Imran offers open hearing of foreign funding case

    PTI takes ‘U-turn’ after Imran offers open hearing of foreign funding case

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) doesn’t agree with Prime Minister Imran Khan over the open hearing of the foreign funding case against the party.

    On Jan 20, Imran addressed a ceremony in Waziristan, wherein he had called for the open hearing of the foreign funding cases against all political parties, including the PTI, to come clean.

    It seems that the PTI legal team doesn’t consider it as a good idea. According to a statement filed by PTI lawyer Shah Khawar in the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PTI has no plans to make its financial statement accessible and the statement of the PTI chairman was “misconstrued”.

    “The statement of party Chairman has been wrongly construed which is not tantamount to provide [sic] documents furnished by the answering respondents (PTI) and material collected by this scrutiny committee,” Dawn reported the lawyer as saying.

    The statement was filed in response to a plea submitted by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar — the petitioner in the foreign funding case. Babar had urged the ECP to make public the records of the PTI in the wake of the statement by the PM.

    Speaking to media, Babar said that PM Imran attempted to mislead the public by his statement. “The PTI has a poor record when it comes to transparency in the case,” he told reporters. Babar said that he and his lawyers would decide their future course of action after the committee’s order on Feb 9.

    The foreign funding against the ruling party case was filed by its founding member Akbar S Babar in 2014. The ECP had started fresh scrutiny of the PTI accounts — a process going on since March 2018.

    The PTI had admitted last month that its agents in the US might have been involved in the illegal funding without the knowledge of the party chief, Imran Khan.