ECP to decide Malikwal LB poll tie dispute

Islamabad

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is ceased with an interesting case where the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is accused of hijacking the election of a Municipal Corporation in Malikwal by managing, in connivance of the staff of ECP, to reject 4 votes out of the total 18 to make a tie with the opponents and later winning the election through a dubious toss. 

The case has been fixed for hearing on February 16. Malikwal is a small Municipal Corporation in Mandi Bahauddin District where only 18 members of the MC were to cast their votes to elect their Chairman on December 22, 2016. Out of the 18 members, 11 were openly supporting an independent candidate Qamar Khan while PML-N candidate Qadeer-ul-Hassan had the support of only seven members. Till the day of polling, it was a one-sided competition as all the 11 members supporting the independent candidate went together to cast their votes. What happened next is a glaring example of how an election in Punjab could be managed to get desired results. 

It has been alleged that when more than half of the members supporting the independent candidate had cast their vote, the polling was halted for half an hour because of a self-generated quarrel between a few supported. The polling then resumed and in the evening, four ballot papers were declared invalid because they had double stamps on them thus making a tie between independent candidate and PML-N candidate. Then the Chairmanship of the MC Malikwal was decided through a dubious toss declaring PML-N candidate as victorious. 

All the eleven members of MC Malikwal have submitted affidavits in the ECP declaring that they did not double stamp the ballot paper then how come their votes have been rejected. 

Qamar Khan, the independent candidate, while talking to The News said that Malikwal was a small MC; therefore, it was easy for the ruling party to manage the election because one of the MPAs of the party was sitting outside the election hall on the polling day. He said that all the 11 members supporting him were still with him yet a person having minority support has been made to win the election only to give an impression to the party high-ups that the party ruling Punjab has swept the election but in fact it was a one-sided competition in the small city. All the 18 members were educated and knew how to cast a vote because they themselves have been teaching the general public how to cast their votes properly while contesting their own local bodies election. PML-N had to declare at least 22 % votes of MC Malikwal (4 out of 18) to manage their candidate’s win. He alleged that the entire government machinery of the small city were in connivance with those who hijacked the election. 

PML-N’s candidate Qadeer-ul-Hassan Shah when contacted said that his opponents had invested a lot of money in the election while he was a worker and now after the defeat, they are shying away from accepting the reality. He said that four votes out of the 18 were invalid because there were double stamps on them thus making a tie. “How can I manage a toss?” he questioned. Shah added that both the parties agreed to go for a toss after a tie because four votes were rejected and he won a result. 

PML-N candidate refuted the allegation that the government machinery and election staff was aiding him saying that the ballot boxes were sealed and were only opened at the time of counting and that the opponent party’s polling agents were present at the time of sealing and de-sealing of the ballot box. 

 The spokesperson of ECP, Additional Secretary Fida Hussain when contacted by The News said that the ECP has its monitoring system in which if any mala fide is proven on any of the staff of election commission, strict action is taken thereof. He mentioned that in the instant case, ECP has summoned the parties, and will give a hearing to both the parties and the election staff to decide what should be done regarding the election. Hussain said that recently District Election Officer of Noshehro Feroz has been dismissed from service after ECP was convinced that he did not fulfill his duties.