PPP Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo has said that either DCOs or the independent candidates won recently held local bodies elections.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he alleged that scale of rigging this time was unprecedented and the candidates of the PPP were defeated in collusion with the Punjab bureaucracy.
He pointed out that the DCOs were the in-charge of the whole electoral process at the district and they used their authority to secure the victory of the ruling party. He reminded that DCOs were appointed by the Chief Secretary after seeking approval of the Chief Minister on the recommendation of the local MNAs.
He maintained that DCOs flouted the code of conduct of elections and carried out the development work in the respective districts as per wishes of the ruling party’s MNAs despite the announcement of the election schedule.
Mr Wattoo claimed that additional ballot papers were also distributed among the MNAs and MPAs of the ruling party to meet the shortfall if the gap was not too wide. He pointed out that in one of the Union Council in Lahore the discrepancy surfaced between the green and white ballot papers.
He said that the ruling party members in connivance with the administration unleashed the wave of intimidation and terror to influence the voters during the first phase. He said that Milk Muhammad Aslam Chinna, head of PP 188, was murdered in Mandi Ahmedabad, Okara, who was the PPP sure winner as Chairman.
He further said that the PPP won 103 seats in district Okara including 16 Chairmen were elected on Party ticket and 6 others won with the support of the PPP. From Kasur 5 PPP candidates won and 14 from Lala Musa were declared successful.
He expressed the hope the Party would definitely do better in the second phase of elections of local bodies adding his assessment was based on the increased demand of Party tickets.
Mr Wattoo urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take District Returning officers from the judiciary because fair and free elections under the supervision of DCOs were not possible. “ECP should appoint judicial officers as DROs because the respect of the Commission is at stake.”
He added that Rangers and Army personnel should be deployed during the phase two and three of local bodies elections to ensure smooth polling and maintenance of law and order.
Earlier, he chaired a meeting of district presidents hailing from the districts of phase one and phase two. PPP Secretary General Tanvir Ashraf Kaira was also present in the meeting.
