No rigging
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) in its latest survey report has revealed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was the most trusted political leader in Pakistan as 75 percent of the people believed in his leadership as compared to 49 percent for Imran Khan. The survey also indicates that in June 2014, 37 percent people believed that 2013 General Elections were rigged but now that percentage has come down to 30 percent. The decline in the percentage of people subscribing to the rigging mantra is manifestly a result of the loss of credibility of Imran Khan and his obsession with the rigging rhetoric in the wake of the Judicial Commission findings and most probably because of losing all NA by-elections.
The most sordid and sad aspect of the brand of politics done by Imran Khan, so far, has been to denigrate individuals and state institutions with unsubstantiated allegations. The streak of impulsiveness in him has been so dominant that he never ever has bothered to check the veracity of the claims that he has been making. He has taken myriad of somersaults on taken positions and surprisingly remains adamant and stubborn despite embarrassing set-backs and reversals that he had to face in regards to his rigging claims.
His latest allegation of transfer of votes from NA-122 just before elections that led to defeat of the PTI candidate is probably the wildest of all the allegations that he has hurled in this regard during the last two and half years and perhaps warrants the untangling of the rigmarole in the light of hard and verifiable facts. The reality in regards to transfer of any vote from one constituency to another is that it is done only on the request of the voter. It is mandatory for the voter to personally appear before the registration officer who after necessary verification shifts the vote to the other area at the desired address and the vote is deleted from the former place. A proper record is kept with the registration officers. Therefore it is not possible for any functionary to shift votes to another constituency in bulk on his own. According to ECP, under Section 18 of Electoral Roll Act 1974, no vote could be transferred from one electoral area to the other without the consent and request of the voter.
The number of voters in a constituency keeps changing due to a number of reasons, including more people crossing the age threshold for voting while living in the same constituency, people shifting their residences from one place to another place, death of the voters and redrawing of the limits of the constituencies if and when desirable and necessary. In the NA-122 case, no redrawing of the boundaries of the constituency was undertaken and no bulk transfer of the voters was made before the elections. According to the record of the ECP, the number of registered voters in NA-122 in 2013 General Elections was 326,028 and during the current by-election it stood at 347,762 showing an increase of 21,734 votes. The lists of voters used in both elections were provided to the PTI representatives. As per ECP record during the period between 11 May, 2013, and August 2015, 6,635 votes were transferred to NA-122 from other constituencies and 7,000 votes were shifted from this constituency to the other areas. The number of votes shifted from NA-122 to other constituencies during 2015 stood at 525. During the same period 780 votes were shifted from other constituencies to NA-122. So the number of votes coming to the constituency was more than the votes shifted from it to other constituencies. No votes were transferred during September 2015.
As is evident from the foregoing facts the number of voters actually increased substantially in the by-election in NA-122 as compared to 2013 General Elections. The number of shifted votes from the constituency and received in the constituency from other constituencies actually became inconsequential in terms of the elections results in view of the increase of registered voters in the constituency by 21,734. Therefore, the contention of the PTI seems quite bizarre, stemming from its obsession with rigging mantra which now almost has turned into cynicism.
PTI has already started clamouring about the possibility of rigging in the local body elections. The PTI organiser for Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar, addressing a gathering of party workers in Lahore on Sunday, said that ECP had become B team of PML-N for upcoming local government elections. He also threatened that PTI would go to any extent if PML-N workers tried to steal mandate of the people. That decidedly is a pre-emptive move to find an excuse for the embarrassment that the results of the local government elections are likely to heap on the party.
The party does not seem likely to change course and is determined to keep pursuing the path of confrontation and propagation of false notions, which does not augur well for democracy in the country. The country is faced with formidable challenges which warrant impregnable unity among the political forces and nurturing of the sapling of democracy, a course and recipe prescribed by the father of the nation. The future of this country lies in following the democratic path and strengthening of the state institutions. Any course contrary to this is bound to unleash centrifugal and fissiparous forces that could undermine the national unity and even threaten the very existence of the country. In a democratic set up government and the opposition are two sides of the same coin. They are supposed to promote well being of the people and serve the national interests by rising above their narrow political interests. The PTI being a potent political force in its own right needs to realise its responsibility towards the state and its voters by playing a positive role in strengthening democracy and warding off the dangers lurking on the horizon, instead of playing the role of a spoiler.
For that to happen, Imran Khan needs to come out of his delusional hubris and accept the ground realities. The ground realities are that PML-N was still the biggest political force in the country enjoying support of the masses as reflected in the mandate given to the party; the PTI had not gained anything from politics of agitation and confrontation except embarrassment and loss of face among the public and that the future of the party depended on revisiting its political creed and focusing on real issues rather than descending into power politics. The country has seen enough of it and needs a break from it. The PTI must join hands with other political forces in the parliament to bring required electoral reforms and changing the system of governance. It should abandon the philosophy of remaining stuck in the 2013 results and look forward to 2018 elections.
