Daily Times

Chaudhry Nisar has lost his Punjab Assembly seat PP-7 Taxila after ostensibly winning it on May 11. The revised results came after the recounting of votes following the allegations by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) of mass scale rigging in a number of constituencies, including PP-7. Chaudhry Nisar had contested on two provincial Assembly seats, allegedly to make sure that he wins from at least one in order to position himself become the next chief minister of Punjab. This wish however has not been accepted by the PML-N. The loss of this seat perhaps has not pricked PML-N too much, as it helped dampen the overambitious desire of Chaudhry Nisar. With his defeat in PP-7, PTI now has eight seats in Rawalpindi. Local PML-N circles have accused Chaudhry Nisar of being responsible for this unusual loss in what has been considered the party’s stronghold and where the former Punjab government had spent huge sums on development projects. He is said to have given party tickets to inept people. On the other hand, the overturning of the initial result against Chaudhry Nisar has given strength to the PTI’s allegations that the elections have not been as fair as claimed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). There could be flaws in the election results. According to the European Union election observers’ team, the polling in 10 percent of the seats was not as fair, free and transparent as desired. That conclusion invites us to focus on the other 90 percent results. The rigging uproar has augmented given the style of reporting adopted by some NGOs such as the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). They are being grilled by the ECP and, according to reports, filing of an FIR against them has been contemplated. FAFEN has already apologized for reporting 100 and even 150 percent results from some constituencies, which they say was because of human error. Therefore, leniency can be shown to some extent, but a precedent should be set thereby that nobody in the future, including the electronic media, jumps to conclusions without verifying the results for reliability. The right way to report for an NGO like FAFEN or any other agency observing the elections or compiling their own results would have been to present the facts first to the ECP, and then, after confirmation, make them public. Going solo with unsubstantiated findings ran the risk of bouncing back given the sensitivity surrounding the elections already mired in alleged rigging charges.

Sit-ins by the PTI are in progress in at least Lahore and Karachi and there might well be some recounting of votes in a number of constituencies indicated by the party. However, believing the recounting process to make some huge difference is naïve. For the continuity of democracy and in order to tackle the country’s crises that are serious and threatening, it is better for all parties to accept the results and work together for betterment of the country as a whole. *