ISLAMABAD: The opposition on Thursday handed the proposed Terms of Reference (ToRs) to the Sub-Committee of Parliamentary Committee on probing allegations against rigging, while the government will present its (proposed) ToRs in the next meeting on November 28. The sub-committee met here with Shafqat Mehmood in the chair. During the meeting, the opposition PPP, PML-N and National Party submitted their proposed ToRs. According to the sources, the opposition proposed 10-point ToRs. According to the opposition ToRs, the committee will have the mandate to investigate the following questions to ascertain the question of rigging and the extent to which it had effects on 2018 general elections results.
1. Was the Election Act 2017 and the rules made accordingly implemented in letter and spirit by the ECP and other state authorities?
2. Was the Election Commission allowed to work independently and had complete autonomy to carry out elections in accordance with the constitution and law?
3. Were all political parties provided with a level playing field in terms of freedom to their candidates and their supports to take part in the polls?
4. Who made the decision to post army officials inside the polling stations, under what law and to what effect?
5. Why did the mandatory recount under the law not take place in many cases and arbitrary decisions were taken in this case?
6. Why were polling agents removed from polling stations arbitrarily even though they had authorization forms from the candidates?
7. Why was a code of conduct newly drafted and in supersession of the law replaced?
8. How many results were declared after midnight and why was the reasons in writing were not given in each case as per law?
9. Why did the RTS/RMS system fail? Its operation, procurement, testing etc. may be explained.
10. Any other issue or question relevant to the free and fair conduct of elections 2018.
The committee may call any witnesses, including officials of ECP, Nadra, a select number of returning officers, presiding officers, other officials on election duty, candidates or any other person, required to explain/testify to help answer any of the above queries.
The committee may also ask for examination of any documents relevant to the same.
Talking to newsmen after the sub-committee meeting, Shafqat Mehmood said the government believed that elections were held transparent, free and fair and that’s the reason that it did not object to formation of the Parliamentary Committee.
“We even accepted the opposition’s demand for having an equal number of representation and inclusion of senators in the Parliamentary Committee,” he said.
Shafqat said the government had never objected to the formation of Parliamentary Committee, as this issue was first raised by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
“We did not send the matter of ToRs with regard to Article 225 of the constitution to the Law Ministry but sent to the Chairman Parliamentary Committee Pervez Khattak for decision,” he said.
He said if the government did not want to move ahead with the committee then it could raise objections but instead they decided to proceed with the task of sub-committee of Parliamentary Committee.
Shafqat said PPP leader Syed Naveed Qamar had submitted the proposed draft of ToRs and also Rana Sanaullah of the PML-N, which included 10-points, and Mir Hasil Bizenjo of National Party.
“The government will examine the opposition’s proposal for the ToRs and presents its draft of the ToRs in the next meeting on next Wednesday,” he said.
Talking to the newsmen, PML-N Rana Sanaullah Khan said the opposition’s point of view on Article 225 of the constitution was very clear and it was not hurdle in the way of investigation to probe rigging in the general elections.
“We have submitted our proposed ToRs in the sub-committee, while the government has sought time for submission of their proposed ToRs,” he said.
Syed Naveed Qamar said the next meeting of the sub-committee will be held on November 28 but its time limit was about to expire and the Parliamentary Committee may be approached to seek more time.
He said the government had not yet submitted any draft of its proposal.
“It seems the government still thinks Parliament has no power to investigate,” he said.