ROs plead innocent

All Returning Officers who recorded their statements before General Elections Enquiry Commission rejected allegations of their involvement in vote rigging in the 2013 general elections. A three-member enquiry commission led by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk said the commission may summon anybody as a witness after going through all the statements of the witnesses recorded before the commission so far.
Counsel for PML-Q Dr Khalid Ranjha had contended before the commission that Returning Officers in some specific constituencies were part of systematic rigging in the general elections therefore they should be summoned for cross-examination. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada had objected to the plea of the PML-Q lawyer but the commission granted permission to summon Returning Officers of seven constituencies specified by Ranjha.
The seven constituencies from which the Returning Officers recorded their statements before the commission on Wednesday are: NA-140, NA-142, NA-134, NA-164, PP-215, PP-109 and PP-61. Returning Officer for NA-134, Aamir Habib, was cross-examined by the counsel for the PTI, PML-N and the Election Commission of Pakistan. All candidates were informed through telephone calls and notices in the respective constituency, said Habib, adding that under Section 39 of the ECP rules all candidates were informed before consolidation of the results. Another Returning Officer, Rafaqat Ali Qamar, said that a collective notice was sent to all the contesting candidates as it was not possible for him to send notice to each individual separately. "I didn't count the rejected votes in the polling bag," he said, adding that he did not have possession of the ballot papers instead he got all the information from Form-14.
Qamar said that he did receive postal ballot papers for his respective constituency and they were counted in the presence of the contesting candidates. All the Returning Officers also presented copies of the notices that they dispatched to respective candidates in their constituencies for their presence during consolidation of results.
Witnesses presented by the Jamaat-i-Islami claimed that some of their candidates in different constituencies of Karachi were abducted while some of their election offices were also set ablaze.
They said that the Jamaat-i-Islami registered some 25 FIRs in Karachi on threat and violence against their candidates by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and complaints were also registered with provincial election commissioner. Sahibzada Haroon Rashid, a JI witness from Federally Administrated Tribal Areas, told the commission that governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been running election campaign for his father in FATA who was contesting elections for a National Assembly seat.
Muhajir Qaumi Movement witness Aftab Hussain told the commission that the MQM had kidnapped his party workers from Landhi and also put election offices on fire. "Most of the political parties in Karachi had demanded to hold elections under the supervision of Pakistan army but the demand was not met," he said. Former provincial election commissioner Sindh S. M. Qadri informed the commission that all the complaints that his office received regarding violence and kidnapping were forwarded to District Returning Officers for action. The commission directed Balochistan National Party to submit a list of its witnesses that would be cross-examined by the counsel for the PTI, PML-N, PML-Q and the ECP.