ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday granted Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s request to inspect the electoral record of NA-122 Lahore, the constituency where he lost to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. Khan had first filed a petition to this effect about a year and half ago.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the commission, chaired by acting Chief Election Commissioner Anwar Zaheer Jamali and came at a time when the PTI is staging a sit-in near ECP headquarters and the commission is repeatedly being accused of having played a role in alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.
Under Section 44 of the Representation of People Act (ROPA), 1976, returning officers are supposed to forward sealed packets containing ballot papers, counterfoils of issued ballot papers, marked copies of the electoral rolls, ballot paper account, tendered and challenged ballot papers as well as the list of tendered and challenged votes.
Under Section 45, these documents are to be retained by the commission and, except for ballot papers, are open for public inspection. It seems ECP officials themselves were not fully aware of the commission’s responsibilities under ROPA as custodians of electoral records. This, sources say, was why it took so long to respond to Khan’s request which, according to the PTI’s Hamid Khan, was submitted soon after the elections in 2013. Khan said that although a decision had been taken on the application last year, the commission did not act on it.
Yesterday’s meeting, ECP members decided that the provincial election commissions would arrange for store-rooms in their provincial offices to keep the relevant records and whenever an inspection is ordered, the provincial commission would make arrangements for it
The commission also viewed a recording of the oft-criticised address former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry delivered to returning officers ahead of the 2013 elections and ‘found nothing objectionable in it’.
It also noted that the decision to grant a one-time waiver on the bar against making judges returning officers had been taken by the National Judicial Policy Making Committee, headed by the chief justice of Pakistan and consisting of the chief justices of all four high courts.
The commission also noted that various political parties, including the PTI, had demanded that polls be held with district and sessions judges as returning officers. They also discussed the proposed bill on delimitation, forwarded by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to the federal cabinet.
The commission agreed with the draft in principle, but observed that there was a need to amend Section 222 of the Constitution and the fourth schedule to also include delimitation for local government elections.
INTERNEWS
