ISLAMABAD: A non-governmental election observer told the judicial commission on Friday that the results of 218 out of 264 National Assembly constituencies surveyed in the 2013 elections were exactly the same as the results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

“The results of the winner, runner-up and the second runner-up as announced by ECP were exactly what the network had projected on the basis of the parallel voting tabulation (PVT) system,” deposed Mudassir Rizvi, head of programmes at the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) ­— a network of 42 NGOs.

Fafen observed the entire election process from close quarters and had 40,000 trained observers visiting 30,000 polling stations around the country.

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Mr Rizvi, who observed both the 2008 and 2013 elections, was cross-examined by PTI counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, PML-N counsel Shahid Hamid and ECP counsel Salman Akram Raja.

The commission also ordered ECP to submit a reply on a complaint filed by Pirzada, stating that the commission was not providing necessary information relating to forms 14, 15, 16 and 17 from different constituencies. Form 14 is the result of any constituency compiled by the returning officer (RO), whereas Form 15 has the count of ballots done by ROs. Form 16 is the consolidated results of any polling station and Form 17 is the notification of the election results.

Election observer testifies before judicial commission; ECP counsel reveals commission only has 60 per cent of Form 14 from 2013 polls

Salman Akram Raja told the commission that he had met ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob, who told him that 60 per cent of Form 14 were available with the ECP because these were sent to it through the newly installed Result Management System (RMS), while the commission was in the process of acquiring the rest.

Referring to Form 15, Mr Raja explained that these were inside bags containing ballot papers and, without an order from a court or an election tribunal, they cannot be opened.

The commission has also summoned incumbent ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob and former ECP secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan on Monday, while the former Balochistan election commissioner and former Printing Corporation of Pakistan secretary Naeem Akhtar have been summoned on Tuesday.

Mr Rizvi acknowledged that Fafen-tabulated results in 18 of the remaining 46 constituencies – out of a total of 264 – varied slightly. There are differences between the runner-up and the second runner-up, but the winners were the same as the ones projected by Fafen.

The margin of success between the winning candidates and their opponents in 118 National Assembly constituencies was very thin because of close contests, he explained.

He said that Fafen had applied for the Form 14 from ROs of 264 constituencies, but only received the required document from 161 ROs. Later, the network applied for the same to the ECP and when it failed to obtain the required material, they approached the information mohtasib, who had decided in favour of the network on April 15 and directed ECP to do the needful.

He also admitted that one of the key findings of Fafen in its report on the conduct of 2013 elections was that the quality of the electoral rolls had improved significantly as compared to the 2008 elections. Besides, the participation of women candidates in the election also increased.

Mr Rizvi admitted that the margin of error in Fafen’s survey results could not be construed as a failing of the ECP.

Mr Rizvi said that during the election process, he received no threats from any government or non-government agencies, though he received a complaint from National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who expressed his displeasure over certain observations in Fafen reports regarding the elections in his constituency of NA-122. Mr Sadiq had not been elected speaker at the time, he said.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2015

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