LAHORE :Army officials deputed at polling stations in NA-120 for peaceful conduct of the by-polls on Sunday did not give easy access to observers in polling areas despite accredited cards issued by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
In some cases when the observers called ECP coordinator Fareed Afridi to inform him about denial of access to them, he instructed them to wait, asking them that he was coordinating with the returning officer concerned to communicate with army officials to allow access to the observers.
This correspondent called Fareed Afridi when army officials denied him access to Muslim Model School, Urdu Bazaar, opposite to famous Central Model School, he asked the polling station number. "You wait there, we have also received such other complaints," he said. He said he would call the returning officer who would call the presiding officer concerned to ask the deputed army officials to allow the entry, he said. This correspondent was given permission to visit the polling station after waiting around 10 more minutes.
This was not the story of a single polling station of NA-120. At every polling station, election observers had to argue with the army officials for entering the polling station to observe the polling. At Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Ravi Road, army officials after stopping the correspondent at the entrance for around 5 to 7 minutes, allowed him to enter where a captain was in charge. He asked the reason for visiting the polling station. Then, he allowed to visit the polling areas not more than five minutes in his supervision.
The worst case was at Government Girls High School, Paisa Akhbar, where army officials plainly refused him entry. They said that some electronic and print media people had visited the polling station in the morning and his ECP accreditation card was shared by him with the high command through whatsapp. However, the high command did not allow the entry to the media to the polling station.
Turnout remained slow till 2pm. It started slightly improving and some queues were seen in the last hour of the polling time. However, overall smooth polling was observed at more than 30 polling stations where this correspondent visited. At some polling stations, presiding officers and polling agents of the parties complained of non-availability of food, water and tea.
Mubashra Fatima, a presiding officer at Chistia High School, said that she was unwillingly performing the duty. The process is smooth and polling uninterrupted, she said, adding that extra ballot boxes were arranged anticipating more turnout. However, these were not required and polling will complete with the existing three ballot boxes, she added. She pointed out that half of the arrangements at polling stations, such as table, chair, benches and others were arranged by herself through her staff a day before while no support was given by the ECP in this regard.
Arifa Batool, another presiding officer at Mulsim Model School, appreciated the efforts and arrangements of ECP and army for smooth and peaceful polling process. She said she had conducted elections earlier too but she termed this election the most peaceful one. She said the polling agents were also cooperating with the administrative staff. However, she and polling agents complained about the non-availability of food, water and tea to them while they mentioned that army officials shared their snacks and bottled water with them.
Dr Bushra, who become part of election process first time, was happy with the experience. She said some seniors before the polling had shared their bad experiences and incidents of quarrels during polling process. However, she said her experience so far had been completely different. She vowed to become part of election process in future too.
According to Coalition for Elections and Democracy (CED) election observers, presence of unauthorised persons inside and outside the polling stations was also observed at almost all polling stations. A team of observers at polling stations 75, 84, 157,158, 119,120 and 103 were not allowed to enter the polling stations to observe the voting process by security officials. Observers reported that in polling station 191, both the assistant presiding officer and polling officer at booth-II were visually impaired. Seven voters complained to the army that there was no ink mark on their thumbs while they cast votes. Upon this, the security officials threatened the presiding officer to close the polling station. However, there were no formal complaints lodged against it and the polling continued.
The violation of ECP code of conduct was also observed during the survey at every polling station. All the electioneering material, including the banners, posters and hoardings outside the polling stations were bigger than the permitted size and dimensions by the ECP.
Yaqoob Sheikh and Yasim Rashid were the two candidates who were seen at different polling stations while the workers of all parties were distributing Biryani and cold drinks among voters and their agents in the polling stations.