A REPORT issued by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) soon after the Gilgit-Baltistan election, held on Nov 15, stated that on average, three irregularities were observed per polling station during polling. These irregularities included breach of secrecy of vote, stamping of ballots by others on behalf of voters, and the failure of registered voters who had national identity cards to cast their vote due to various reasons.

Similarly, the election commission did not ensure the provision of Forms 45 and 46 to all polling agents during the vote-counting process, which would have helped enhance the integrity of the results. Resultantly, the presiding officers had to issue the polling stations’ results to polling agents on plain paper with stamp and signatures, the legality of which is yet to be established. At some stations, the polling agents were seated at a place from where they could not observe the voting process clearly. A few other serious infringements have also been cited by the said report.

Many of these issues could have been addressed by the chief election commissioner exercising his powers to ensure the integrity of the election process.

Abdul Qayoom Ansari
Lahore

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THE elections in Gilgit-Baltistan were successfully held on Nov 15. Regardless of the outcome and what it means for the political parties, will it change anything on the ground for the people of the region?

Health facilities in the area are very basic and primitive, while advanced diagnostic facilities are available only at a few hospitals. Even these facilities fail to serve the purpose owing to frequent power breakdowns.

There is no medical and engineering university in the entire area. Individuals have to move to other parts of the country to receive higher education. They prefer to stay in the larger cities for better career prospects as there are virtually no jobs back home for technical and educated people.

The list of problems is endless, but no political leader talked about them during their election campaigns. One can only hope that the political parties will work for the welfare of GB people instead of indulging in the traditional blame-game post-election.

Salma GR
Turbat

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2020