Electoral body declares Daska by-poll void, orders re-election
Re-polling will be held on March 18; PML-N depicts ECP’S decision as a major victory and says its stand that the government commited massive rigging and used official machinery has been vindicated
In a major development, the Election Commission
of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday declared the entire
election to NA-75 Daska (Sialkot) constituency
null and void.
Re-polling will be held on March 18. The
ECP accepted the plea of the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N), seeking re-poll in the
entire constituency, and rejected the request
of the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI), which
called for polling in 20 polling stations whose
presiding officers had mysteriously disappeared for twelve hours.
The ECP said that the voter turnout, shown in
the polling of 20 polling stations was phenomenally high compared to other polling states, where voter participation was exceptionally low.
The electoral body said that the voters were not allowed to exercise their right of franchise freely. It said that there were disruptions and quarrels in the constituency on the date of polling on Feb.19.
The ECP said that the election held on Feb.19 was not fair, free and transparent. It said that the ECP was duty bound to ensure that the polls were smooth, orderly and fair. The PML-N depicted the ECP decision as a major victory and said its stand that the government commited massive rigging and used official machinery has been vindicated.
The lawyers of the PTI and PML-N argued for hours before the ECP pressing the case of their clients.
PML-N leader Muhammad Zubair told reporters ater the ECP ruling that the fraud commited by the Imran Khan government has been exposed by the decision.
Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that fair and free election has been the old demand of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said the ECP decision makes it clear that the government believes in independence of station institutions.
Meanwhile, PTI has issued a show-cause notice to senior party leader and former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi for levelling serious allegations of corruption against the party leadership for awarding tickets for the Senate election.
The notice has been issued to the veteran politician from Sindh by the provincial chapter of the PTI’S Standing Commitee on Accountability and Discipline (SCAD) a day ater he told a news conference in his hometown Dadu that the party leadership had sold a Senate ticket to a candidate, Saifullah Abro,
for Rs350 million.
However, Jatoi stuck to his charge and said he has evidence to prove his assertion.
“Your press conference in which you spoke against the party leadership and hurled accusations went viral on social, print and electronic media. This act of yours is against the PTI’S party
policy and the constitution, read the notice,
a copy of which was released to the media by the party’s central media office. “Therefore,
the ma er is being referred to SCAD Western
Region of Sindh province Karachi for further
proceedings within seven days.
Jatoi had alleged that Abro had parachuted into the party recently and managed to clinch
the Senate ticket. Jatoi, who had himself joined the PTI in April 2017 a er qui ing the PML-N,
stated that the decision to award the ticket to
Abro was simply unjustifiable and an affront
to loyal party leaders and workers.
Jatoi had also heaped scorn on Sindh Governor Imran Ismail stating that the Governor House in Karachi was at the centre of such decisions. He said the indulgence in drawing room politics at the supposedly impartial institution was detrimental to PTI’S core interests in Sindh. He lamented that the PTI leadership grossly neglected party leaders and office-bearers belonging to the interior of
Sindh who had remained unconditionally loyal
to the party in the Senate election.
He said that he had sent complaints to party chairman Imran Khan detailing all the issues. If the prime minister did not take notice of their complaints, he would gather PTI leadership of interior Sindh, his supporters and like-minded
people in Be o Jatoi village on Feb.26 and take
a decision about his future course of action, he had announced.
He said the PTI had completely failed to provide any relief to Sindh where the party had
polled 1.5m votes.