ANYTHING can happen in this election, according to seasoned polling agent and head of Jamaat-i-Islami’s election cell in Karachi, Raja Arif Sultan.

Mr Sultan, who was the party’s former emir in West district, believes elections are unpredictable but a good polling team can make all the difference.

“The most important part of this cycle is the candidate’s polling agent. He/she is basically the candidate’s support and representative at the polling booth,” he said.

Explaining the polling agent’s role, Mr Sultan said that there is one polling agent allowed per booth. “Most polling stations here will have four booths — two for men and two for women. So you have four polling agents — two men and two women for 1,200 voters,” he said.

Former polling agents discuss training, delaying tactics and how long it should take to cast a vote

“The polling agent has to be vigilant. He/she has to arrive early in the morning and check if the ballot boxes are empty and sealed — this is important because a common complaint is that boxes are randomly ‘changed’. Then proceed to note down serial numbers of each box for tallying purposes. They also have to check computerised national identity cards (CNICs) of all voters and cross them off the voters list they have and then direct them to the assistant presiding officer — who the polling agent should also keep an eye on because if someone messes up somewhere along the way the vote is not valid,” he added.

Another thing, he claimed, polling agents have to monitor: how many ballot papers are actually going in the box. Polling agents also have to monitor how many ballots were used, unused, wasted, compromised or left behind.

How does one select a polling agent?

“For the JI, we go to our supporters and volunteers. People who want to help out. Once they are identified, we train them in sets of 50 and 100, right now we have about 12,000 trained polling agents. They have to attend presentations and workshops where their responsibilities are explained,” said Mr Sultan, who was a polling agent himself around 30 years ago.

“This election I think the situation might be different. At least you know a certain party’s workers won’t come and intimidate anyone at polling stations,” he added.

On the job

A former polling agent for the JI remembers the 2002 elections quite fondly.

“In terms of prepping there was a meeting beforehand where we were briefed…we had to get there early as were told to watch out for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s polling agent so he doesn’t mess up the ballots,” she said.

“The polling station I was at was in Sharfabad which, like Bahadurabad, is traditionally a neck-to-neck type of situation between the JI and MQM,” she added.

According to her, all they had to do was check the national identity card, cross their names off the voters list and “make sure that when the voter went in they weren’t being ‘swayed’ by anybody”.

“This polling station was very kosher. However, the polling station where I used to go to cast my vote…wahan MQM baith kar thapay laga rahi hoti thi,”she said.

“At that time Nasrullah Shaji was contesting for the provincial seat and Mohammad Hussain Mehanti for the NA seat. Polling day itself was uneventful. There were a lot of women there as polling agents — very cordial, there was no animosity and we had biryani,” she added.

Training process

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Munaza Hassan has been training party supporters and volunteers in Lahore for more than two decades. The former MNA says they are focusing on training women in two of Imran Khan’s provincial constituency.

“So far we have trained about 800 women. We have one-and-a-half hour sessions every day at 6pm. Similar sessions have been taking place in Sialkot, Kasur and other cities,” she said talking to Dawn.

“Our trainers are being taught by master trainers who we had trained professionally two years ago. We have offered refresher courses, taught them about what to look out for, how to challenge a vote, how to fold a vote etc,” she added.

Ms Hassan, who has been associated with the party since 1996, shared that she too was a polling agent in the 1997 elections.

“We did not know much and it was then that I decided these trainings were important for all political workers,” she added.

Delaying tactics

Not many parties can boast of having the kind of training and experience the Pak Sarzameen Party claims to have. With an army of 16,740 polling agents, the party claims that they are the only ones in Karachi with this kind of strength.

Talking to Dawn, the party’s chief Anis Kaimkhani claimed that he had never been a polling agent himself but believes that the main person on the job on polling day is the polling agent.

“Even when I was in the MQM, we knew that the most important job was that of the polling agent,” he said.

“Polling agents have different kinds of personalities and skill sets and we keep this in mind when assigning them to polling stations. We will be training our agents all of this week. Our trainers are people who have participated in the last six to seven elections,” he added.

Former MPA and town nazim Mohammad Dilawar has been training PSP worker for the past couple of weeks. As a party candidate, he is well aware of everything polling agents should and should not be doing at polling stations.

“A polling agent basically has to monitor the voting process. However, there are a few other things that they have to watch out for. For example, if a polling agent notices that people are voting for another party, he/she will use delaying tactics to delay the process,” he said.

How is this done?

“The polling agent will raise objections and challenge a vote — this can be about the voter’s identity. Around 10 to 15 minutes easily go by while proper forms are being filled out in this regard no one else is allowed to vote and the entire process comes to a stop. The idea is to gain time,” he said.

The former town nazim added that parties usually give their polling agents extra money to pay for the forms. “In the previous elections, it used to cost Rs2 to file such complaints now they have upped it to Rs100,” he added.

The entire voting process, according to several former political agents takes about three to four minutes — from identifying the candidate to inserting the ballot paper in the box; however when delaying tactics are used it can extend to an hour.

Mr Dilawar, who was a polling agent in the 1985 elections, says it was a different time then. “I was there when Mr Mehanti was contesting,” he said. “I was only there for a few hours though, senior people were called in for the counting process.”

“Our process of selecting a polling agent is very simple. There are some people who are very solid in theory and are educated or interested in paperwork. We use them inside the polling station and others who have street smarts and can bring people out to vote are more helpful outside,” he said.

Voter awareness

According to Pakistan Peoples Party’s Lal Bux Bhutto who was a polling agent in 1971, a polling agent is a representative of the candidate.

“Not only do they have to be vigilant about the ballot papers, boxes, a polling agent also has to monitor, tender, challenge and count votes,” he said.

Discussing the party’s strength in Karachi, Mr Bhutto said that they had approximately 15,000 polling agents who were trained at special workshops and given reading material in Urdu.

“What is important and not focused on much in elections is voter awareness and their lack of responsibility,” said Mr Bhutto, who has been associated with the party since 1968 and been a polling agent in several elections.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2018