New Delhi: This year’s national elections in Pakistan have thrown up a remarkable scenario despite the Army establishment’s best attempts to manipulate the electoral process.
Till the time of filing of this report, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates have reportedly bagged 100 of the 266 directly elected seats in the National Assembly. Former PM Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has won 71 seats and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by former PM Benazir Bhutto’s son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has won 54.
Despite this, Nawaz Sharif has gone ahead to make a speech in which he declared that his PML-N has emerged as the single largest party and invited other parties to join his party in forming a coalition government. However, much to the chagrin of the Pakistan Army, former cricketer Imran Khan’s popularity among the masses was manifested by his party-backed candidates winning many more seats than each of the other two political parties, the PML-N and the PPP.
As is well known, Imran Khan is now anathema to the Pakistan Army. His PTI was denied the cricket bat election symbol by the Election Commission of Pakistan citing irregularities in internal party elections. Imran Khan has also been barred from contesting the elections after he was jailed for three criminal cases against him.
Given that the PTI-backed independents have till now emerged as the largest entity in the Pakistan elections, it is learnt that the party will now again go for internal parties so that there can be legitimacy in claiming power. Senior PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan has claimed that his party-backed candidates are in a position to form a government on their own and would not need to form a coalition government either with the PML-N or the PPP.
But the fact of the matter is that the electoral process has been marred by delays in the declaration of the final results even after two days of the polling being held. One such case was brought to the attention of ETV Bharat. Kanwal Shozab, a PTI-backed independent candidate, who is also the central president of the PTI’s women wing, has alleged irregularities in the counting centre at Government Girls’ College at Uch Sharif in Punjab province. The counting centre is located near the home of PML-N candidate Samiul Hassan Gilani’s home. PTI activist Naheed is seen in a video, the veracity of which cannot be confirmed by ETV Bharat, claiming that two ballot boxes were brought from Gillani’s house and filled with ballot papers.
Interestingly, Gillani’s stepbrother Ali Hassan Gillani who is the PPP candidate in NA 166 Bahawalpur seat has also filed an application to the returning officer for recounting of the ballots. Similarly, Crown Prince of former Bahawalpur State Bahawal Abbas Abbasi has also challenged the results of NA 166۔ Abbasi is also an independent candidate of this constituency and has shown to have come second. He alleged that the result has been changed even though he was the winner.
According to a source in Pakistan, returning officers (ROs) in polling centres have largely been favouring PML-N candidates at the behest of the Army. This comes amid international powers like the US, the UK and the EU questioning the transparency of the electoral process in Pakistan.
A report in the Express Tribune stated that several petitions have been filed in the Lahore High Court contesting the victories of key PML-N candidates, including three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) leader Aleem Khan.
According to the report, the petitioners argued that their rights were violated as they were not allowed to witness the consolidation process of the election results at RO offices during the preparation of Form-47.
“Independent candidates supported by PTI, who secured runner-up positions, claimed that they were forcefully removed by police officials acting at the behest of various ROs from observing the result consolidation process,” the report stated. “They argued that this eviction constitutes a blatant violation of the fair process for witnessing the crucial phase.”
Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif has invited PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father and former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari for a meeting to discuss the possibilities of forming a coalition government. This comes after Nawaz Sharif’s brother and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting with the father-son duo on Friday. Both the PML-N and the PPP had run a coalition government ahead of the elections after Imran Khan was ousted from power.
According to Ehsan Ahmed Sehar, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Nawa-i-Ahmedpur Sharqia Pakistan and Patron of All Pakistan Regional Newspapers Society, in case the PML-N and the PPP again form a coalition government, then Zardari will again become President of Pakistan. “Current President Arif Alvi will step down and Zardari will be made the President,” Sehar told ETV Bharat.
Read More
