ECP declares Daska by-poll null and void, orders re-election
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday ruled that a re-election be held in the entire NA-75 Daska constituency after suspicions that the results may have been falsified.
The ECP, while hearing an application by PML-N candidate Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, declared the by-poll held in the constituency on February 19 as null and void. A five-member commission, headed by the chief election commissioner, announced the decision and ordered that fresh elections be held in Daska on March 18.
The order was issued using the powers conferred on the ECP under Article 218 (3) of the Constitution and Article 19 (1) of the Election Act, 2017. It noted that "on the day of the election, chaos was spread in the entire constituency".A detailed verdict will be issued later.
Reacting to the decision, PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who was the most vocal in demands for a re-election in NA75, said "the people of Daska have gotten back their right."
Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan, she wrote that the "fake sadiq and ameen (honest and righteous) has been issued the certificate of vote thief" through the ECP verdict. "Vote thief Imran Khan also turned out to be a kidnapper," she alleged. In another tweet, Maryam said the echo of her father and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif's narrative of "vote ko izzat do (honour the vote)" was being heard "throughout the country".
"Thanks to the people of Daska who not only voted but only guarded their vote and handed over the vote thieves to the authorities after catching them red-handed."
Maryam's spokesperson
Muhammad Zubair also spoke to the reporters and said that the government was "caught red-handed", adding that the ruling party "adopted tactics that even the ECP was surprised".
Zubair went on to say that the atmosphere in NA-75 on the day of the election was not conducive for voters, citing a firing incident in which two people were killed and three were injured. The former Sindh governor accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of being at the "forefront of the conspiracy" and said that criminal proceedings should be initiated against the latter.
PML-N candidate Iftikhar termed the decision as a "historic" one and thanked her voters for casting their ballots despite being beaten by batons and sticks.
"This is a historic decision which has set an example for coming elections," she said. "I congratulate people of NA-75 whose battle I fought.
"Today they got their right, their constitutional and democratic right which every Pakistani deserves." Earlier during the hearing today, PTI lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar addressed the 'disappearance' of the staff of 20 polling stations in the constituency and said that it was "not right to say that a delay in results means they were altered".
"The manner of delay can give rise to suspicion [that] results were altered," ECP's Sindh member responded. Barrister Zafar pointed out that there was no set time for presiding officers to report at the returning officer's office. He further said that phone batteries die after an entire day of usage.
"Did everyone's phone battery die, including the driver's?" asked ECP's Khyber Pakhutnkhwa member Irshad Qaiser. The PTI lawyer insisted that the RO had requested a re-election in 14 polling stations on the "basis of speculation".