- Election watchdog fails to introduce mechanism to discourage horse-trading despite legislation of election bill in 2017
- ECP claims effective check and balance besides penalisation on basis of ‘tangible’ evidence
- Former secretary says ECP lacks proactive approach to discourage horse-trading
- Spokesperson says ECP has been interacting with electoral reforms committee in relation to political parties’ proposals for allocating Senate seats on a proportionate basis
ISLAMABAD: The rumours of horse-trading in Senate polls are abundant in the political centres of the country, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no mechanism in place to curb the illicit trade of votes, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday.
This time, the elections have come at a time when the tenure of the national and provincial assemblies is about to expire, providing an opportunity to the lawmakers, who are hopeless of their victory in the general elections of 2018, so they would likely to trade off their votes.
Major political parties of the country, sans Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), have expressed concerns over the issue of potential horse-trading after Asif Zardari boasted to win at least six Senate seats from Balochistan. The PPP has no lawmakers in Balochistan, though.
Initially, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry had expressed fears of horse-trading, while a leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM)—a party imploding due to Senate seats—, Sheikh Salahuddin, on Monday echoed alleged that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Asif Ali Zardari had funneled Rs 10 billion to buy the party lawmakers’ votes.
Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) minister Khawaja Sada Rafique had also blamed Zardari for horse trading in the Balochistan Assembly.
Pakistan Today contacted ECP spokesperson to get acquainted with the shortcoming of the commission in the imminent polls.
ECP Spokesperson Haroon Shinwari told the publication that the election watchdog has taken several measures to ensure transparent elections and for this purpose, it established IT facilitation centres which will be led by the officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), National National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
These officials will be responsible for the scrutiny of the nomination papers.
“If any institution finds any contradictions in any candidate’s action or if one is a defaulter, they would transfer the information to the ECP’s returning officers who will then take a decision regarding the nomination papers,” the spokesperson added.
Asked if these centres could prevent the sale of votes, he said the ECP would take action under the law in case of tangible evidence against any candidate regarding the horse-trading.
“If anyone can provide us concrete evidence, then we will commence judicial proceedings over,” he assured.
The spokesperson pleaded ignorance, when asked if the ECP proposed any measures during the sessions of the parliamentary committee on the electoral reforms to preempt the possibility of horse-trading.
The spokesperson also admitted to the fact that the ECP had not played a proactive role or had taken any steps during the consultation process on the finalisation of Electoral Reforms Bill, despite the Senate elections falling months before the dissolution of the assemblies.
About the ECP’s response to the proposals moved by several political parties that the Senate seats may be allocated on a proportionate basis, the spokesperson said the ECP has been interacting with the electoral reforms committee; however, he stated that he was not allowed to comment on ECP-made proposals to the committee.
“The committee did not adopt most of our proposals but I can’t share such details as it is the committee’s prerogative,” he said, adding that he does not know what proposals were raised by the ECP,” he added.
“I have not been a part of these consultations with Election Reforms Committee over the past two and a half years. I don’t know the details. Neither can I share minutes of such meetings,” he added.
When asked whether the ECP had in coordination with the state institutions for the collection of data about suspected persons about horse-trading, he said he could not comment on the matter.
Asked that back in 2009, then-ECP secretary Kunwar Mohammad Dilshad proposed that in ‘extraordinary circumstances, the polls may be held through a show of hands rather than secret ballot, the spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.
When Pakistan Today contacted Kunwar Mohammad Dilshad for his take on the issue, he said that “history reveals that holding Senate polls in the proximity of the termination of tenure of the assemblies, always triggers horse-trading.
“The trend needs to be countered by the ECP under a proactive approach,” he stated.
Dilshad said that there was a possibility of votes selling this time as well that several lawmakers belonging to the Balochistan Assembly, Sindh Assembly, Punjab Assembly and FATA have plans to vote against the party leadership’s decisions.
“The recent fissures in the MQM-P reflect that money would be a factor in the election. In the past, due to iron-hand of party founder Altaf Hussain, the MQM lawmakers never deviated from the party policy but this time around, Dr Farooq Sattar, once a chief has lost it,” he added.
Dilshad said word is in the air that due to a PML-N disgruntled group in Punjab Assembly the ruling party may face an element of surprise, adding that there were allegations of vote-selling in Balochistan Assembly and FATA as well.
“This all warrants effective legislation. As federal secretary of the ECP, I had submitted a proposal to then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in 2009 to hold discard the secret ballot, but the PM dropped the idea,” he recalled.