ECP withholds NA-249 results pending hearing on recount

Ag APP

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has withheld by-poll results of Karachi’s NA-249 constituency pending a hearing on May 4 after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Miftah Ismail wrote to the chief election commissioner (CEC) requesting a recount.

According to a notification by the ECP, the hearing will be held on May 4, and notices have been sent to all respondents. In the meanwhile, the ECP has issued a stay order, withholding results of the by-poll.

Ismail had written to the chief election commissioner seeking a vote recount in NA-249 and requested a forensic audit of the votes in the constituency after his party lost by a narrow margin of 683 votes to Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Qadir Mandokhel.

Among the concerns he raised, Ismail alleged that election officers from 34 polling stations did not WhatsApp the results and his party “did not receive results from more than 30 polling stations”.

He also voiced “serious concerns” about the behaviour of some presiding officers. The PML-N leader claimed that many Form-45 were not signed and that the count of votes on the Form-45 given to the party was different from the forms issued by the returning officer (RO), which were not provided to them.

The PML-N leader alleged Returning Officer (RO) was not following the law and not directing a recount of votes despite the minor difference in votes. He further claimed in the letter that the RO did not provide polling stations-wise result summary to the party and that he did not provide a receipt of the time the results were received via WhatsApp.

With these concerns in mind, Ismail asked the CEC to stop the ECP from finalising the results and order a recount of votes in all polling stations of NA-249.

According to Section 95 (5) of the Election Act, 2017, the returning officer shall recount the votes if a candidate challenges the count with a request. For the request to be valid, the margin of victory must be “less than five per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency or ten thousand votes, whichever is less”. The margin of Mandokhel’s victory was less than one per cent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan referred to the NA-249 election results being disputed by all parties as a reason to introduce electronic voting machines for greater transparency. In a series of tweets, he reiterated that the government was determined to introduce reforms in the electoral system with the use of the latest technology for transparency and credibility.

The Prime Minister invited the opposition to work with the government and select from the available electronic voting machine (EVM) models to “restore elections’ credibility”. He said the use of technology would strengthen the democratic system in the country. He also mentioned that for a year now, the government had been asking the opposition parties to cooperate and help it reform the present electoral system.

“Unfortunately, no substantive reforms were put in place. Technology and use of electronic voting machines are the only answer to reclaim credibility of elections. I invite the opposition to sit with us and select from EVM models we have available to restore our elections credibility,” the Prime Minister posted.

The Prime Minister further observed that apart from 1970 elections, doubts over the credibility of results had been raised in every election. “In NA-249 by-election, despite a low turnout, all parties are crying foul and claiming rigging. Same happened in Daska recently and in Senate elections. In fact, apart from 1970 election, in every election claims of rigging have raised doubts over credibility of election results,” he said further.

The Prime Minister further said former United States president Donald Trump’s team did everything to dispute the presidential election, but due to use of technology no irregularity was detected.

“Trump’s team did everything to dispute 2020 presidential election result; but because technology used in electoral process not one irregularity was found. For a year now we have been asking the opposition to cooperate with us and help reform our present electoral system,” he posted in another tweet.