All parties point fingers at KP government

ISLAMABAD: Barring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), all the political parties, which contested the local bodies’ (LB) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), have accused the provincial government of rigging as was done in the case of the 2013 general elections.
This is the usual mantra that political parties of all hue and colour, mostly defeated ones, rightly or wrongly harp on after the electoral exercise. But when it comes to proving manipulation at a proper forum, they fail to establish their charges. Precisely same has happened with the PTI about the previous parliamentary polls. The difference is that earlier it was the PTI, which has been holding different political parties, individuals and institutions responsible for rigging but now, it is in the dock and is left with giving explanations again and again. However, its detractors are not willing to pay heed to them.
The PTI has found an easy target to blame and instead of accepting massive mismanagement, incompetence and negligence of the KP government, it has passed the buck to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). However, the ECP dismissed claims of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak regarding irregularities and said the KP government must stop putting its own responsibilities on others.
It said the provincial government had expressed its desire of conducting the polls at both district and tehsil levels on the same day and its stance is on record. All institutions and departments should have played their roles in ensuring peace on the polling day, it said. It has hardly ever happened that a provincial minister tried to take away ballot boxes to stuff them at his choice place. The PTI came under pressure due to the alleged act of Ali Amin Gandapur, who is going to be in deep trouble at the hands of the KP government due to the intense public pressure and hue and cry. He was caught red-handed for his alleged crime. In their own style and way, the Awami

National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) raised serious questions about the local polls. Almost all of them hurled allegations on the PTI government.
However, none of them has unfolded a schedule of protests, sit-in, processions and agitation against the PTI. This shows that despite raising hue and cry obviously for political objectives, they accept the election results unlike the PTI, which had caused immense destabilisation questioning the outcome of the 2013 polls. However, the JUI-F has announced a one-day sit-in in KP districts, which is expected to be a low-key protest.
“There is no example of unprecedented irregularities that were witnessed in the KP local elections,” Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid has commented. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed that ‘dacoity’ was committed by the PTI and Imran Khan’s fascist face was exposed. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq said that rigging was a black spot on the ECP. He said that it was the ECP’s responsibility to prevent administrative deficiencies and chaos on the polling day. ANP President Asfandyar Wali said that rigging in the KP local elections provided a glimpse of ‘new Pakistan’. Even PTI’s coalition partner in the provincial government was forced to say that rigging took place, he said.
In its initial report, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) was also not satisfied with the electoral process. It said that although the campaign period remained peaceful to a large extent, the polling day was marked by administrative mismanagement, extremely slow processing of voters, procedural irregularities and several reports of violence and bar on women voters. Its observers reported 19 incidents of polling stations being captured by the supporters of contesting candidates and political parties in nine districts. Around 26 percent of such incidents were reported from Haripur, followed by 16 percent each from Peshawar and Bannu.
Although the participation of women voters improved considerably compared to previous polls in KP, obstacles to women’s voting were, nevertheless, prevalent in several areas, the Fafen said. Incidents of barring women from voting were reported. Although women were seen voting at some polling stations in Lower Dir (where they were barred in a recent by-election), incidents of barring women were reported from at least one polling station in 17 wards. The report said that in the other 63 wards, women were disenfranchised in at least one polling station due to systematic or institutional issues, such as absence of female polling staff, presence of male staff at female polling stations, absence of female polling stations and booths or shared entrance for both men and women at combined polling stations.
Fafen’s initial findings showed that political parties and contesting candidates, particularly for tehsil and district councils, were freely breaching the electoral law that bars all sorts of canvassing within a 200 meters radius around polling stations. Campaigning of candidates went on freely at party camps set up close to the polling stations, with no action reported from anywhere to curb these activities.