Denial of signatures by presiding officers on copies of LG poll results surprises CEC

Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday faced an unusual situation when some presiding officers expressed their ignorance about their signatures on copies of the results of the recent local government elections in Karachi concerning six union committees (UCs) the city.

Reacting to this, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who chaired the ECP hearing at the commission’s secretariat, directed some of the presiding officers present at the hearing to carefully and thoughtfully give their statements.

The ECP has been hearing a petition of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) pertaining to alleged irregularities in six UCs of Karachi that are District West Orangi UC-3, District West Orangi UC-7, District West Orangi UC-8, District West Mominabad UC-3, District West Manghopir UC-12 and District East Gulshan-e-Iqbal UC-1.

Some of presiding officers contended that the actual results were the same as those given to the returning officers and they did not keep the original copy with them. To this, the CEC expressed displeasure and said that the presiding officers should answer carefully and thoughtfully. Later, the ECP adjourned the hearing till February 28.

After the hearing, Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman spoke to the media and said that the party had given arguments and provided documents to the bench to prove its point. He noted certain presiding officers were called and when forms were shown to them, some of them straightaway denied that those documents carried their signatures and thumb impressions.

Other presiding officers, Rehman said, were not sure. “Our evidence is before the Election Commission and the Election Commission also has the status of a court. In my view, there has been a major poll forgery and cheat during LB polls and some DROs and ROs were put under pressure,” he argued.

Rehman also expressed the hope that the ECP would decide on merit the matter of the six UCs. He added that the commission had also assured the JI that it would soon announce the schedule for the local government polls in the remaining 11 UCs of Karachi, where the polls could not be held due to deaths of candidates. He said that the JI respected the mandate of other parties where it was due but at the same time the party expected others to show the same attitude.

Meanwhile, Karachi Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) President Saeed Ghani proposed that the commission should go for recounting under its supervision and whatever result that surfaced after it would be acceptable to the PPP.

“Our lawyer had aired this proposal, which was also a demand of the JI, but the Election Commission did not accept it and held another hearing. We also have similar complaints and are waiting for the tribunal to be set up where we will present them. But the commission should have owned the poll process. Now, on the basis of six UCs, a door has been opened and every defeated candidate is approaching the commission. We accept your mandate and you should accept PPP’s mandate and all parties should run the Karachi local bodies system,” he said.