ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday declined a request to declare as void the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the contentious by-election for NA-75 (Sialkot-IV), a seat in Daska Tehsil of the city.
Last month, the electoral process regulator had ordered re-polling in the entire constituency after suspecting that the results of some polling stations had been compromised.
On March 5, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Ali Asjad Malhi, who had contested the election, moved the apex court against the order, saying the order was “clearly contrary to law and facts of the case”.
In Tuesday’s verdict, Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the top court would “not overturn the ECP’s decision”, ordering that “re-election in the constituency would be held under any condition”.
The judge, when requested by the complainant to set aside the ECP order, rejected the request and said re-polling will take place, but it is yet to be determined if it will happen in the entire constituency or in certain polling stations.
The judge further said the court “respected constitutional institutions” and would look at every aspect of the matter.
Justice Qazi Muhammad Ameen, another member of the bench, said it was the responsibility of the district administration to stop violence at polling stations. At this, the PTI counsel told the court the DRO did not lay any blame on the civil administration, yet the election commission wanted to hold re-elections in the entire constituency.
At this point, Justice Bandial intervened and observed that a lack of police personnel led to violence in polling stations.
He further said the general elections in 2018 were held peacefully because of the posting of Rangers. They were not posted in the constituency by the election commission which he said was a mistake.
The counsel for the ECP informed the court Punjab police chief Inam Ghani had not submitted his response which was sought by the commission. “Is this the cooperation and respect that security agencies have for the ECP?” Justice Bandial wondered.
In a statement issued following the by-election, the election commission said Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja had contacted Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik after reports of returning officers going missing had emerged. Malik assured Raja that the results would be sent after tracing the “missing” officers and polling bags but soon after, he made himself “unavailable”.
According to a report by the Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, “terror was spread in the constituency because of clashes,” the counsel further informed the court.
But the counsel said the “conditions in the constituency were the same as before” which is why it had extended the date for re-polling to April 10 from March 18.
Justice Ameen observed the culture of violence during elections needs to be ended.
The hearing of the case was adjourned until March 19.
DELAYED RESULTS:
In a statement a day after the by-election, the election commission said it received the results of the constituency with “unnecessary delay”. It said it had tried to contact the presiding officers (POs) several times to ascertain the situation but achieved no success.
“The chief election commissioner tried to contact the Punjab inspector general of police, commissioner and deputy commissioner on receiving information from the district returning officer (DRO) and returning officer (RO) so the whereabouts of the presiding officers concerned could be ascertained but received no response,” read a statement issued by ECP.
The presiding officers appeared along with the polling bags around six in the morning the following day, the statement said.
“The DRO and RO of the NA-75 (Sialkot) constituency informed [the ECP] that there is a suspicion of falsification in the results from 20 polling stations.
Therefore, it is not possible to release the initial results without a complete inquiry. The DRO is sending a complete report on the matter to the Election Commission.”
The statement said the ECP had stopped the DRO and RO from announcing the initial results for the by-election, directing them to conduct a complete inquiry and identify those responsible for the delay.
