ISLAMABAD: Just as the inquiry commission seems to be on the verge of winding up the process of recording witnesses’ evidence, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has identified more areas that need further investigation in order to establish that the 2013 general elections were rigged.

In an application submitted by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada on Saturday, the PTI said that the “inquisitorial” component of the proceedings warranted further inquiry so that the commission could fully discharge its statutory obligation under the presidential ordinance.

The application maintained that further inquiry, either exclusively by the commission or with the help of political parties, had become all the more necessary in view of the evidence, testimony and material that has been placed on record.

Setting out more issues for the commission’s consideration, the application suggested that one of the glaring matters was the printing of excess ballot papers in several constituencies.

The application will be taken up on Monday, when the inquiry commission resumes proceedings.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the PTI says, the average voter turnout during the last polls was 55 per cent, based on the examination of Form 15 received by the PTI to date.

It has become essential, the application suggests, that the commission undertake further inquiry by seeking a report from the ROs of each national and provincial assembly constituency. These ROs should be asked to explain whether they had complied with the action plan issued by the ECP and, if so, furnish evidence of such compliance.

The PTI also requested the commission to summon all the pre-scanning reports prepared to date by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). The pre-scanning report is a comprehensive inventory of the election material actually received. Such reports will help examine the extent of missing polling material, especially missing electoral rolls and counterfoils.

The application also pointed to 35 National Assembly constituencies where the number of votes rejected exceeded the margin of victory and emphasised that ‘rejected votes’ was one of the devices employed to manipulate and alter the results of the elections.

Of these 35 constituencies, five are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), three from Fata, 15 from Punjab, five from Sindh and seven from Balochistan.

In these circumstances, the PTI said, the commission should summon the polling record of all 35 constituencies and examine the ballots that were rejected in order to ascertain the validity of the decision to reject those votes.

The commission was also asked to consider asking Nadra to undertake an examination of the thumb impressions on the counterfoils of the ballot books from each of these 35 constituencies.

Referring to the Section 39(1) of the Representatives of the Peoples Act (RoPA), 1976, under which the ROs have to issue notices to the contesting candidates at the time of the consolidation of the election results, the PTI argued that the requirements of the law were violated during the elections on a massive scale.

From the examination of some of the ROs, summoned at the request of PML-Q, it was learned that the rejected ballot paper packets were never opened and examined by the ROs during the consolidation process.

This warrants further investigation by the commission as this is a mandatory requirement under Section 38(3) of the RoPA because these votes may prove decisive in cases where victory margins were narrow, the application concluded.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2015

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