Though Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) managed to control illegal campaigning and canvassing around the majority of polling stations during the by-election in NA-120 Lahore-III, Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) reports that its observers witnessed party camps at one-fourth and provision of transport by candidates around one-third of observed polling stations.
Procedural irregularities in voting and counting processes and a bar on legally accredited observers by security officials were the key highlights of reports from 40 FAFEN observers, who observed election procedures at 113 out of 220 polling stations (51.4pc) established for the by-election, which was held in unprecedented security arrangements.
FAFEN observers were barred from entering 11 polling stations (9.7pc of observed stations) by security officials, despite the fact that they had been duly accredited by the ECP. Observers were also restricted from observing the counting processes from another 10 polling stations.
In addition, there was a considerable surge in the incidence of violations of electoral laws, rules and codes of conduct. FAFEN observers recorded, on an average, 4 violations per polling station as compared to 2.3 violations per polling station recorded in the last by-election held in NA-260 in Balochistan in July 2017.
Parties’ camps were witnessed outside 24 polling stations (21.2% of observed polling stations) within the prescribed 400-meter boundary for campaigning and canvassing, while transport was being provided by candidates and parties around 37 polling stations (32.7%, or about one-third of observed stations). FAFEN observers reported voter chits with party symbols printed being produced before polling officers at 152 polling booths. The highest number of violations reported (40) related to the voter identification process, in which polling officers were not fulfilling the procedural requirement for polling officers to call out loud the name of each voter so that polling agents can hear and raise objections, if any.
FAFEN observed the pre-election process and polling day through 40 trained, non-partisan observers. The polling day observation covered 113 out of 220 polling stations (51.4%) set up in the constituency. Observers spent between 60 and 120 minutes in each polling station to document their observations on a standardized checklist that is based on the provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1976, Conduct of Elections Rules 1977 and instructional handbooks that the ECP has provided to election officials. These laws and rules governed the NA-120 by-election pending implementation of the Unified Election Law, 2017, adopted in August.