KARACHI, Jan 16 (EW): Provincial Election Commissioner Aijaz Anwar Chohan on Monday rubbished the rigging allegations in the local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions due to delay in results, saying that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had a “strict monitoring” mechanism to ensure free and fair elections.
The results of the much-delayed local body election’s second phase in Sindh could not be finalised even past noon on the day after polls, which gave rise to claims of “rigging” and results being engineered in Karachi.
Speaking to media in the metropolis, Chohan said that holding LG polls is a big exercise and has its own challenges. However, the electoral body fulfilled its duty efficiently, he said.
The provincial election commissioner said that the preparation of Form 11 was the first thing to be done after the conclusion of polling on Sunday. He explained the entire process of preparing results, saying that one returning officer (RO) has to make results of five to six union councils (UC).
He said that there are around 25 constituencies in a UC and the RO has to make Form 11 and 12 for each of the constituencies.
Chohan further stated that a presiding officer has to make five separate forms for four categories for a single polling station, and then these forms are sent to the ROs.
“All 11 and 12 forms were handed over to the ROs in Karachi by 11am today,” he said.
‘Results will be finalised by this evening’
Chohan went on to say that there were 4,990 polling stations in Karachi and it makes almost 10,000 forms if we do the calculation.
Chohan said that the preparation of appendix A — unofficial results — by the ROs was underway and the results will be finalised by this evening.
Responding to the claims of rigging, Chohan clarified that ECP had a very strict monitoring mechanism and he can confidently say that no official was involved in rigging.
However, he said strict legal action will be taken if any official was found involved in rigging
He asked the political parties to trust that the “ECP is aware of its constitutional responsibility and is serious in holding free and fair elections”.
Top PTI Karachi leader defeated, PPP in pole position in Hyderabad
For the first time in history, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is in a position to elect its mayor in Hyderabad while the party is also leading in Karachi’s local government elections.
The finalisation of the results for second phase of Sindh’s local bodies elections took longer than usual, with major political parties viewing the delay with suspicion and claimed the results were being engineered.
As per the latest updates, the results of Karachi’s 89 union committees (UCs) out of 246 have been released so far.
PPP emerged victorious on 46 UCs, Jamat-e-Islami (JI) has secured 22, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) 14, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) three, Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (JUI-F) two, Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) claimed victory in two UCs, while an independent candidate has one won seat.
Meanwhile, the loss of PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman — who was considered the party’s candidate for the top slot of the mayor — to PPP’s Najmi Alam in Saddar gave the party a major setback in the grass-root level elections.
The voting kicked off at 8am and continued uninterrupted, with reports of sporadic clashes. However, several confrontations were also reported even after the polling process ended.
The parties seemingly did not respond strongly to the clashes, however, later on, claims were made that the Sindh government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were involved in delaying the release of results.
As hundreds of thousands of people headed to vote in a bid to elect their local representatives, many political parties had also earlier complained and demanded the ECP to increase the polling time as the process began late at some of the stations — which was accepted in some polling stations.
At first, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) — an ally of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) alleged that the Sindh government had used delaying tactics by not ensuring that the polling officers reach the stations on time.
