ISLAMABAD: The mystery surrounding the suspicious delay in the issuance of general election results - coupled with the controversy involving alleged tampering of poll results against PTI-backed candidates - continued to take the centre stage on Friday after the ECP failed to complete the issuance of unofficial poll results of several constituencies of the five legislatures - even a day after the elections.
Till the filing of this report Friday night, PTI-backed independents were leading with 91 seats, followed by 64 seats of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), 50 seats of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and 12 seats of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P).
The electoral picture of the provincial assemblies was not yet clear but the PTI-backed candidates were said to be leading in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
‘Independent’ candidates steal the election show?
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was scheduled to issue the unofficial results of the general polls on Thursday night. However, following the breaking down of the poll body’s much hyped Election Management System EMS) during late-night on Thursday, the election results were pending with the poll body having failed to complete the unofficial results, till this story was filed Friday night.
Conspicuously, the candidates supported by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were leading the poll charts with heavy margins in different constituencies across the country when the EMS suddenly broke down.
The electoral body linked the delay in election results to the unavailability of internet services. However, the Commission failed to explain the reasons behind the sudden collapse of the EMS.
Like Thursday, the scenario involving the election results saw high drama on Friday too.
In the early hours of Friday, the ECP issued a statement stating that Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja directed the provincial election commissioners and returning officers to issue the election results “within half-an-hour,” otherwise, strict action would be taken against them.
However, till the filing of this report on Friday night, the unofficial results of several constituencies were still pending.
The alleged tampering in the election results also raised serious questions on the general elections credibility.
The PTI-backed candidates including Yasmeen Rashid, Raja Basharat, Ayaz Ameer, Mehr Bano Qureshi, Tahir Sadiq, Shoaib Shaheen, Qasira Elahi, Ali Bukhari, among others, were leading against their respective candidates from the related National Assembly seats when the results came to a halt. Several hours later, these candidates lost the polls in the ECP’s unofficial results.
Former PPP leader Mustafa Nawaz, who contested the general elections from NA- 48 Islamabad as an independent candidate, announced on X to accept his defeat. He alleged that PTI-backed Ali Bukhari was the winner of NA-48 seat but poll results were rigged to “elevate a person who was not even in the electoral race.” Likewise, he said, PTI-backed Shoaib Shaheen won the NA-47 Islamabad seat with a heavy margin before the results were stopped.
“It is tantamount to worst poll rigging and playing with fire,” Khokhar wrote.
Furthermore, the CEC having left the ECP headquarters late-night on Thursday on a “private” visit without his official security and protocol, fuelled speculations that the CEC met some “powerful” individuals against the backdrop of EMS breakdown, and that the election results became “more controversial” after this development.
Elections 2024: all NA constituencies and their contesting candidates
The ECP claims that EMS is equipped with sophisticated features for the smooth transmission of general polls’ results. However, a letter, written last week, by the returning officer of NA seat NA-197 Kamber-Shahdadkot, to the district returning officer of the said seat, raised serious questions about the efficiency and reliability of the EMS.
“Either the EMS is an utter failure or there is someone else that controls and manages the system behind the veil,” the RO wrote.
The electoral body confirmed the authenticity of the letter but avoided commenting on this issue any further.
Moreover, the unannounced closure of the cellular services, on the reported pretext of security threats, from early Thursday morning till Friday morning, gave credence to reports of foul play in the elections.
Raja, the CEC, distanced himself from the cellular services blockade, saying that he did not direct the authorities to suspend the mobile phone services on Thursday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024