'Fact-sheet' presented to parliamentary body: ECP responds to vote rigging allegations

Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmed presented on Monday a 'fact-sheet' in response to vote rigging allegations against 2013 general elections before the Parliamentary Electoral Reforms Committee. The meeting of the reforms committee was held here with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the chair.
The committee reviewed the suggestions and recommendations from different stakeholders, ie, election commission, senate's committee on election reforms and others, to improve the electoral process, besides being briefed by Secretary ECP and representatives of Pakistan Printing Corporation and NADRA.
The Secretary ECP said a number of new techniques were adopted in the general election 2013, such as voters' photographs on the electoral rolls for identity, the SMS 8300 facility for obtaining voting details on the cell phone, use of magnetic ink, a Result Management System alongwith others. He said that a total of 180 million ballot papers were printed and the entire record containing the names of the representatives of the Returning Officers along with details of exact number of ballot papers books handed over to them is available with the government printing presses. Responding to questions raised by members committee, he said the record can be produced as and when it is required by any competent forum that may be appointed for the purpose of investigation of allegations.
The Secretary ECP said that 387 election petitions relating to the election, 2013 were received and 14 tribunals were constituted to dispose of these petitions. He said that 311 petitions have so far been disposed of while 76 are still pending. He said that on the basis of the recommendations from international and national observers, the ECP has launched its Second Five-year Strategic Plan 2014-18 and the draft unified law 2014.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Committee Dar said that one of the objectives of the committee is to identify the loopholes in the past electoral processes and to plug such loopholes for future. He said the 'Fact-Sheet' of ECP has clarified many misconceptions. Dar underscored the need for getting rid of use of magnetic or normal ink. According to him, in future, a biometric system should be introduced to overcome many challenges.
The Committee will now meet on Thursday. The Secretary ECP had to face the parliamentarians who challenged the 'fact-sheet' of the 2013 general elections which rejected all allegations regarding election rigging. He informed the committee that both local and international observers identified some irregularities and problems but declared the elections transparent.
He dismissed the allegation of ballot papers being printed from private printing presses. A total of 180 million ballot papers were printed of which 112.5 million were printed by the Printing Corporation, whereas 67.5 million by Security Printing Corporation. He said that the commission has a record of the number of ballot papers that were sent to any constituency, which can be presented at any forum.
The allegation of ballot papers being printed for five districts from Urdu Bazaar in Lahore on May 9, 2013 was also dismissed by him. He stated that the distribution process in these districts had been completed by May 9. On allegations of Returning Officers (ROs) being biased, he said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other parties had demanded ROs from the judiciary. It was on their demand that the Chief Justice was requested for the deployment of ROs.
About the allegation against ineffective use of magnetic ink, the Secretary ECP further said that NADRA proposed its use and provided samples. The use of magnetic ink was not a legal requirement; rather it was used for a voter identification as per the administrations requirement. The ECP also responded to allegations of delays in the work of election tribunals. It said the ECP was responsible for the formation of these tribunals and 14 had been set-up. Out of 405 complaints, 329 had been disposed of while 76 were pending.
In response to the allegation of why the election review report was published nine months after being prepared, the 'fact-sheet' states the report was prepared in December 2013. In its light the new strategic plan and election reforms law document was prepared. Senator Farooq H Naik agreed with the PTI and said that elections were rigged. He further alleged that ECP has not maintained the record of unused ballot papers.