Rashid Mahmood
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PTI's Azadi March 14th August 2014 l Updates and debate.
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Leader
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the way govt is panicking, it seems as if PTI has got some real proofs regarding pmln rigging... otherwise if you have real mandate there is nothing to fear.
this is hilarious...
this is hilarious...
Jzaib
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nopes not the mean reason .. they have sensed that it will be a very big protest .. they have no clue for it .. btw i can arrange vans for PDF member from lahore who want to leave for long march.the way govt is panicking, it seems as if PTI has got some real proofs regarding pmln rigging... otherwise if you have real mandate there is nothing to fear.
this is hilarious...
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that will be nice but I think the better strategy is to stick with the local leadership's plan.. because had it been any other occasion, it would have been easy to arrange an all PDF vans, but this is going to be a tough call, as mobility on 14th wont be so easy.. stick in groups with local leadership and make it through...
syedali73
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Ten truths about electoral rigging
The PTI and the PML-N are unable to resolve their political differences. Therefore on August 14, Islamabad is bracing for a clash, which will test Pakistan’s democracy. Imran Khan, who will lead the Azadi march from Lahore to Islamabad, calls it a “decisive battle”. The tempo for the long march has been built on a series of rallies in Punjab where the PTI has repeatedly hammered home its case against electoral rigging. These arguments have mostly been taken at face value. Let’s see how they fare in the light of facts put together by FAFEN, an independent election monitoring NGO.
1) Election tribunals have failed to decide cases — Around 410 election petitions were filed by losing candidates before the 14 election tribunals established across the country. As of last month, 292 petitions, i.e., 73 per cent of all cases, have already been decided by election tribunals. This is unprecedented when compared with the disposal rate of election tribunals in previous elections.
2) Judges of election tribunals were appointed under a faulty process by a biased Election Commission of Pakistan — In previous elections, high court judges were burdened with the responsibility to decide petitions after completing their usual day’s work. Now, election tribunals are manned by retired judges, whose only work is to decide election cases. The ECP did not appoint these judges. Each of the election tribunal judges were proposed by the respective chief justices of the provincial high courts.
3) Election tribunals are purposely going slow — It is correct that election tribunals were not able to meet the 120-day deadline to decide cases. One reason for the delay is the attitude of many losing candidates. Take for example the case of petition number 344 of 2013, Usman Dar vs Khawaja Asif. In its decision, the tribunal wrote: “The way the petitioner avoided to enter the witness box and disregarded the directions of this tribunal on the pretext of business tour abroad, provides a basis to infer that he was/is no more interested in the matter. Costs of adjournments to the tune of Rs30,000/- have not been paid by the petitioner till date. It appears that after filing the election petition, the petitioner lost interest in the election dispute and then attempted to prolong the trial … the petitioner failed to prove the allegations … (and) the election petition is found to be without any merit and is accordingly dismissed … .”
4) If election tribunals decided the PTI’s cases, the PML-N government would collapse — The PTI candidates filed a total of 58 petitions challenging National and provincial assembly elections in various constituencies. Of these, 39 petitions, i.e., 70 per cent have already been decided by the election tribunals. Unfortunately for the PTI, none of the 39 cases were successful. Now, only 19 PTI petitions remain to be decided. Even if each of these is decided in the PTI’s favour, it will not dent the overall election result.
5) Election tribunals are favouring the PML-N — Thus far, 10 elected parliamentarians of the PML-N have been unseated by the election tribunals. This is the highest number of decisions against any political party. Judgments in only two petitions have gone against PTI candidates. Independent candidates are the biggest winners thus far with eight cases in their favour, followed by the PPP at six.
6) If the government has nothing to hide, then why is it refusing to open the cases of four seats demanded by the PTI — The election results on the four National Assembly seats, i.e., NA-110, NA-122, NA-125 and NA-154 have already been opened and are subjects of judicial inquiry by the election tribunals, which are the only forum for opening disputed results of any election. The government has no role to play here.
7) Unprecedented rigging on four seats — NA-110 was one of the four seats cited for election rigging. According to FAFEN, the number of electoral violations in NA-110 is zero. Compare this with NA-1, where Imran Khan won the election. The electoral violations here are listed as 58 by FAFEN. The point is not that the NA-1 result was manipulated simply because FAFEN listed these violations. The point is that there were approximately 90,000 polling stations across the country. Electoral law violations in some of these, deplorable as they may be, do not make these a rigged parliament.
8) The PML-N rigged elections to defeat the PTI’s Jahangir Tareen — NA-154 is another one of the four seats. Here, the PML-N is blamed for stealing Tareen’s victory. But it is interesting to note that the PML-N candidate here also lost the election. The winner was an independent candidate, Mohammad Siddik Baloch. If the PML-N wanted to rig this seat, why would its candidate come a distant third?
9) Even the PPP supports the demand to reopen result of four constituencies — The PPP is happy that the PTI is focusing attention solely on Punjab. The PPP lost a large number of safe seats in Punjab. Although this has happened before, this time, the loss threatens its very existence in Punjab. In the famous four constituencies, the PPP received an abysmal one per cent, 1.6 per cent, 2.9 per cent and five per cent of total votes cast and its candidates lost even their security deposits. Therefore, how can the PPP resist the opportunity to help de-legitimise the election results in these constituencies?
10) The PTI exhausted all forums provided by law before coming on the streets — The Representation of Peoples Act provides that the forum to contest election results is the election tribunals. Around 73 per cent of all cases have already been decided by them. Anyone aggrieved by their decisions can file an appeal in the Supreme Court as mandated by law. Rule of law is not just an empty slogan to be raised in public rallies and television talk shows. It is the foundation which we must abide by if we are to build a modern and stable Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
Ten truths about electoral rigging – The Express Tribune
The PTI and the PML-N are unable to resolve their political differences. Therefore on August 14, Islamabad is bracing for a clash, which will test Pakistan’s democracy. Imran Khan, who will lead the Azadi march from Lahore to Islamabad, calls it a “decisive battle”. The tempo for the long march has been built on a series of rallies in Punjab where the PTI has repeatedly hammered home its case against electoral rigging. These arguments have mostly been taken at face value. Let’s see how they fare in the light of facts put together by FAFEN, an independent election monitoring NGO.
1) Election tribunals have failed to decide cases — Around 410 election petitions were filed by losing candidates before the 14 election tribunals established across the country. As of last month, 292 petitions, i.e., 73 per cent of all cases, have already been decided by election tribunals. This is unprecedented when compared with the disposal rate of election tribunals in previous elections.
2) Judges of election tribunals were appointed under a faulty process by a biased Election Commission of Pakistan — In previous elections, high court judges were burdened with the responsibility to decide petitions after completing their usual day’s work. Now, election tribunals are manned by retired judges, whose only work is to decide election cases. The ECP did not appoint these judges. Each of the election tribunal judges were proposed by the respective chief justices of the provincial high courts.
3) Election tribunals are purposely going slow — It is correct that election tribunals were not able to meet the 120-day deadline to decide cases. One reason for the delay is the attitude of many losing candidates. Take for example the case of petition number 344 of 2013, Usman Dar vs Khawaja Asif. In its decision, the tribunal wrote: “The way the petitioner avoided to enter the witness box and disregarded the directions of this tribunal on the pretext of business tour abroad, provides a basis to infer that he was/is no more interested in the matter. Costs of adjournments to the tune of Rs30,000/- have not been paid by the petitioner till date. It appears that after filing the election petition, the petitioner lost interest in the election dispute and then attempted to prolong the trial … the petitioner failed to prove the allegations … (and) the election petition is found to be without any merit and is accordingly dismissed … .”
4) If election tribunals decided the PTI’s cases, the PML-N government would collapse — The PTI candidates filed a total of 58 petitions challenging National and provincial assembly elections in various constituencies. Of these, 39 petitions, i.e., 70 per cent have already been decided by the election tribunals. Unfortunately for the PTI, none of the 39 cases were successful. Now, only 19 PTI petitions remain to be decided. Even if each of these is decided in the PTI’s favour, it will not dent the overall election result.
5) Election tribunals are favouring the PML-N — Thus far, 10 elected parliamentarians of the PML-N have been unseated by the election tribunals. This is the highest number of decisions against any political party. Judgments in only two petitions have gone against PTI candidates. Independent candidates are the biggest winners thus far with eight cases in their favour, followed by the PPP at six.
6) If the government has nothing to hide, then why is it refusing to open the cases of four seats demanded by the PTI — The election results on the four National Assembly seats, i.e., NA-110, NA-122, NA-125 and NA-154 have already been opened and are subjects of judicial inquiry by the election tribunals, which are the only forum for opening disputed results of any election. The government has no role to play here.
7) Unprecedented rigging on four seats — NA-110 was one of the four seats cited for election rigging. According to FAFEN, the number of electoral violations in NA-110 is zero. Compare this with NA-1, where Imran Khan won the election. The electoral violations here are listed as 58 by FAFEN. The point is not that the NA-1 result was manipulated simply because FAFEN listed these violations. The point is that there were approximately 90,000 polling stations across the country. Electoral law violations in some of these, deplorable as they may be, do not make these a rigged parliament.
8) The PML-N rigged elections to defeat the PTI’s Jahangir Tareen — NA-154 is another one of the four seats. Here, the PML-N is blamed for stealing Tareen’s victory. But it is interesting to note that the PML-N candidate here also lost the election. The winner was an independent candidate, Mohammad Siddik Baloch. If the PML-N wanted to rig this seat, why would its candidate come a distant third?
9) Even the PPP supports the demand to reopen result of four constituencies — The PPP is happy that the PTI is focusing attention solely on Punjab. The PPP lost a large number of safe seats in Punjab. Although this has happened before, this time, the loss threatens its very existence in Punjab. In the famous four constituencies, the PPP received an abysmal one per cent, 1.6 per cent, 2.9 per cent and five per cent of total votes cast and its candidates lost even their security deposits. Therefore, how can the PPP resist the opportunity to help de-legitimise the election results in these constituencies?
10) The PTI exhausted all forums provided by law before coming on the streets — The Representation of Peoples Act provides that the forum to contest election results is the election tribunals. Around 73 per cent of all cases have already been decided by them. Anyone aggrieved by their decisions can file an appeal in the Supreme Court as mandated by law. Rule of law is not just an empty slogan to be raised in public rallies and television talk shows. It is the foundation which we must abide by if we are to build a modern and stable Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
Ten truths about electoral rigging – The Express Tribune
Leader
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you are quite late, not only PTI has given a rebuttal to this misleading article but also FAFEN has written a letter to Tribune clarifying their position and debunked false claims by this nobody, wanna be paid by Yazidi Noora
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syedali73
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I am no pro-PML(N), in-fact, I dislike every politician for that matter. At any rate, you are right, and I am posting the rebuttal here also, so people get to see both the sides of the coin.you are quite late, not only PTI has given a rebuttal to this misleading article but also FAFEN has written a letter to Tribune clarifying their position and debunked false claims by this nobody, wanna be paid by Yazidi Noora
Ten truths about electoral rigging — a rebuttal
By Awab Alvi
Published: August 6, 2014
Zahid F Ebrahim, in his article of August 4 titled, “Ten truths about electoral rigging”, published in The Express Tribune, presented a very biased view on the topic. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should have stepped in to allay doubts of any election rigging, but with this article, it seems that the neutrality that was needed to conduct a free and fair election was never there to begin with. It seems that this was the mindset from the start: to appease the powers that be, instead of giving Pakistanis even a semblance of a free and fair election.
I truly respect Mr Ebrahim and his father. I believe Mr Fakhruddin G Ebrahim is an honest person, but his appointment, especially considering his age, probably was the factor that failed Pakistan. This job required a commander, who would whip, snap and beat the life out of anyone who so much as stumbled in performing his duties to conduct transparent elections. I do not challenge the former chief election commissioner’s honesty or integrity on a personal level. I am aware that he, along with his family, have sacrificed a lot this past year — but I would like to raise some concerns here.
The ECP was given a mandate to conduct free and fair elections. This means an election that was 100 per cent fair. For Mr Ebrahim to argue that 73 per cent cases have been dismissed by election tribunals in 14 months, and that this is a better performance than what was witnessed in previous elections, does not make sense. He is content to see 73 per cent of the election delivered fairly, not 100 per cent.
Mr Ebrahim does not mention the fiasco of the magnetic ink in his article. The magnetic ink was supposed to be the holy grail, the primary check that would have ensured a transparent electoral process, but somewhere along the way, NADRA and the ECP lost their way and seemingly chose ink stamp pads. Yet, he is convinced that a free and fair election took place.
Mr Ebrahim also does not mention that the cost of scrutiny of papers was exorbitantly high. It served as a deterrent for candidates wanting to pursue full scrutiny for fear that it may cost them millions. A transparent ECP could have chosen to selectively waive the scrutiny fee, especially in cases where there might be genuine suspicion of rigging having taken place, even if just to allay public doubts regarding rigging allegations and to display that the ECP wants free and fair elections. The public perception is that the fee is there to hide NADRA’s flaws. Those who could afford to do so, dug deep into their pockets to pay the exorbitant fees and each case eventually exposed the magnetic ink flaw.
Then, Mr Ebrahim does not mention the issues of missing presiding officers, missing ballot boxes, missing stamps or even ballot papers that were found in various garbage dumps across Karachi. This happened in broad daylight and Karachiites were a witness to this. Re-polling was even called at the Hampton School Polling Station where Mr Ebrahim and his father voted. Not even a fleeting mention in the article shedding some doubts on what happened in Karachi?
Mr Ebrahim also failed to mention that the arguments presented by the PTI are mostly against returning officers having fudged results and doctored votes. It has not talked about the appointment of tribunal judges. There was not even a slight acknowledgment of the ‘typo’ error in Nawaz Sharif’s constituency in Mr Ebrahim’s article.
There was also no mention of the reasons behind the tribunals withholding cases of the four famous seats where the PTI has alleged rigging. Stay orders have been issued to slow proceedings. Inevitably, there will be suspicion as to who is involved behind this delay and this will fall on the ECP, the tribunals and the government for deliberately delaying these cases for fear that this may result in opening of a Pandora’s box.
Mr Ebrahim forgot to mention the reasons behind Imran Khan challenging the results of only four seats. These four seats represent just a drop in the ocean. It does not mean that rigging was not more widespread. The intention behind this was to show that the PTI only wanted to identify flaws in the system and fix them so that transparent elections can be held in the future. Exposing rigging in these four constituencies would not have made Imran Khan the prime minister. Yet, no one wanted to touch these seats, as it was feared that it would expose more widespread rigging. In my opinion, the ECP should have delivered a ‘perceivable’ free and fair election to the people of Pakistan. Having failed to do so, fingers will always be pointed towards it. How an electoral system works in totality defines whether it has the ability to deliver transparent elections.
Mr Ebrahim has chosen to attack a party that has used all avenues to fix this system: the ECP, tribunals, courts and parliament, but all of them failed to do their duty. The PTI has now just upped the ante to the dislike of many who are comfortable with this so-called free and fair voting process. Reforming the electoral system has been the PTI’s goal from day one. If the electoral system is not fixed now, the next elections will be held in exactly the same manner. One day, I hope we could have a genuinely free and fair election, which seems like a distant dream right now, considering that even people of the calibre of Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim can flounder. Hence, there is no option but for the Azadi March to go forth for the sake of Pakistan’s ‘azadi’.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2014.
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Ten truths about electoral rigging — a rebuttal – The Express Tribune
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pmln was part of the long march in judges restoration movement, while they were sitting in the parliament, was it according to the constitution, but now they are using state machinery to stop us from exposing rigging in election... and its called unconstitutional...
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