ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday overturned the notifications of returning officers postponing elections in two National Assembly constituencies of Sargodha district following death of an independent candidate for both the seats.

The notifications to terminate proceedings of elections in in NA-83 and NA-85 (Sargodha) were issued by respective returning officers on January 19 after the death of Sadiq Ali, who they said according to death certificate and information provided by his son, died on Jan 15.

A video that took rounds on social media, however, showed that the death certificate was fake and the man had passed away on Jan 2 and not on Jan 15.

The Section 73 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017, says “If a contesting candidate dies before commencement of the poll or during the polling hours, the Returning Officer shall, by public notice, terminate the proceedings relating to that election”.

An ECP official explained that a person filing nomination papers to run for an election becomes a contesting candidate only after allocation of the poll symbol, a process which took place some 11 days after the original date of the man’s death.

Takes notice of aerial firing at GDA candidate’s rally in Karachi

A bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the case involving controversy over postponement of elections in NA-83 and NA-85, Sargodha.

The petitioner, PML-N candidate Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti, appeared before the ECP and informed the bench that he received a notice from the returning officer informing him that a candidate has died in his constituency with a death certificate of the deceased candidate bearing date of Jan 15.

The petitioner said that after the investigation, it was found that Sadiq Ali, the deceased (candidate), died on Jan 2, whereas his funeral prayers were offered on Jan 3. He claimed that forgery has been done in this matter and that a conspiracy was hatched to postpone the elections in two constituencies. He pointed out that the Sargodha DC has also conducted an inquiry into the matter.

He requested the ECP that elections should not be postponed in the two constituencies. On his part, the DRO Sargodha said that he had conducted an inquiry and it was proved that Sadiq Ali died on Jan 2 as statements of Sadiq Ali’s mother, daughter and the Imam of the mosque concerned were also recorded in the inquiry. The Imam of the mosque informed the ECP that he had offered the funeral prayers of Sadiq Ali on Jan 3.

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The returning officer of NA-85, present on the occasion, said that now it has been proved that the candidate had died on Jan 2 and they were provided a fake death certificate. The chief election commissioner asked why the inquiry was not conducted before issuing a notification to suspend the elections.

The secretary of union council concerned said that “we issued death certificate on the request of lambardar’s confirmation and the deceased’s son. The lambardar, however, claimed that his signatures were forged”.

At this point, the Chief Election Commissioner reprimanded the secretary of the union council for interfering in the poll matter and for trying to justify a wrong and directed the DC of Sargodha to take action against him with remarks that this person should be dismissed from his job.

Cancelling the notifications of returning officers that postponed elections in NA-83 and NA-85, the ECP said that polls would be conducted in both the constituencies as per schedule.

UC secretary suspended

In a related development, the Deputy Commissioner of Sargodha, Capt retired Shoaib Ali, has suspended the Sargodha union council secretary who had issued the death certificate of candidate Sadiq Ali and ordered an inquiry against him, appointing Deputy Director of Local Government Babar Shahzad Ranjha as the inquiry officer.

The DC took the action on the instructions of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Against this action of the DC, secretaries of all union councils of the district expressed their concern and threatened to go on strike.

The secretaries said that the death of the deceased was got registered by his son, on which signatures of the Imam of the mosque concerned are present and, therefore, the secretary of union council Jahangir Khan is innocent and his suspension is not justified.

Aerial firing

Meanwhile, the ECP, while taking notice of aerial firing during a rally of GDA candidate Irfanullah Marwat in Karachi, has directed the IGP to take action against those responsible and submit a report to it. The IGP has also been asked to ensure implementation of the code of conduct.

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According to ECP, District Monitoring Officer has served the GDA candidate a show cause notice and asked him to submit a reply within two days.

Sajjad Abbas Niazi in Sargodha also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024