Tight security allays rigging concerns

LAHORE
The really close contest between the PML-N and PTI candidates was witnessed in NA-122 and PP-147 Lahore amidst historically strict security measures which defused the concerns of rigging in the polls. The tensely close fight between the two candidates which made it really difficult for media analysts to safely predict anything coupled with poor voter turnout brought some serious causes of concerns for both the parties.
The tensely close contest showed up by the PTI should have sent serious alarm bells for the ruling PML-N that a close shave at the heart of Lahore, the city which has been their citadel for the last two decades, means party’s stronghold was slipping out of his grip.
While for the PTI, a possible loss means the entire edifice of ‘bogus and rigged assemblies’ built by Imran Khan during the last 29 months campaign and four-month sit-in at Islamabad was razed to the ground with a big thud. However, the close fight was also a glimpse of optimism for PTI that it was able to grapple and look eye-to-eye at the ruling PML-N inside its own backyard. For most of the PTI fans, the close fight proved that Imran Khan’s allegations were partially true and the big lead of former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq in 2013 elections was not genuine. PTI leader and opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed told The News that a close finish against the ruling party which had been using entire state machinery for the last two months proved that Imran Khan’s allegations were true to a big extent and that any eventual win of PML-N candidate was no win at all.
These remarks matched with the initial results that showed a slight lead by PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq over PTI’s Aleem Khan but an unexpected reversal in the provincial assembly seat where PTI’s Shoaib Siddiqi was leading over PML-N‘s Mohsin Lateef. Siddiqi’s lead, though not final, was a cause of great satisfaction for the PTI leadership and a redemption of their pride. It is time for PML-N leadership to seriously ponder over the weaknesses of their governance and to change their autocratic style which showed no change in how they had been governing the country and province every time they came to power over the last three decades.
The security measures by the army and rangers personnel were so harsh that it made the PTI leadership admit all through the day that there was no chance of rigging in the bye-elections. All polling stations were fenced with razor wires and manned by Army and Rangers jawans while only voters were allowed inside through a walk-through gate. Alert army personnel were stand-by in their jeeps and vehicles outside the polling stations to meet any situation. With such arrangements the polling stations were presenting a look of garrison.
At many polling stations, the army personnel did not even let the media men inside despite having special entry passes issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan to facilitate them in their professional duties of covering the elections. This situation was frustrating for the journalists and showed a serious lack of coordination between the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Army officials.