Daily Times

Dodgy polling agents, unresponsive police officials, videos littered with the changing of the ballot boxes and as many as 20 election officers missing for all night due to “fog,” Daska by-polls sounded nothing but a plot of a B-grade film. That too, a very cheesy one!

While leaders from PML-N and the PTI are busy in their heated war of words over who derailed democracy, they remain oblivious to the real problem at handsn. Such a laughable sham of polling could only take place under the nose of an election commission that was ill-prepared to manage affairs. No matter how strong-worded it was, its press release points to no one but its own shortcomings. It couldn’t be any clearer.

Never in a democratic country have so many irregularities been allowed to cloud a single election. As has been acknowledged by the ECP itself, staff of the 20 polling stations (marred by rigging controversies) could not be contacted till the morning hours. Is it even possible to lose track of someone for such a long time in the digital age of 2021? Most likely, not! Not being able to reach out to police and administration of the Punjab government appears an excuse ripped out of the wrongdoing handbook of any military dictator.

Further stamp of shame was the row of violence between PTI and PML-N supporters that went on to claim two lives.

All quarters would agree that the problem largely lies with the ECP. Despite having gained teeth under the Elections Act of 2017 (the first major reform since the first direct elections in 1970) as well as the appointment of a new chief election commissioner, the system is still highly vulnerable to manipulation. The present disastrous episode demands the ECP to introspect within. Only a thorough investigation of what went wrong on the polling night can allow the officials to take strict action against those responsible. Under no circumstances can a small group be allowed to play with the constitutionally-sanctioned public right to vote.

The stakes are already high for the credibility of ECP. Only one constituency has laid bare its inability to organise free and fair elections: a face-palm moment, indeed. How can it then be tasked with the crucial responsibility of holding the next general polls?

There is something far more sinister at play here. Ergo, the dirty hands on dirty deals busy undermining the sanctity of such a crucial cornerstone of Pakistan’s democracy need to be identified at once.

It is, nevertheless, to PTI’s misfortune that it has had to brave the same hostility at the hands of the CEC while sitting at treasury and opposition benches. It had complained about the previous CEC’s decisions favouring PML-N and sadly, the incumbent commissioner is just the same.

Word on the street is that the commission is issuing statements that side with PML-N because of its undue pressure. Raising hands in helplessness cannot get the ECP off the hook and neither can blaming local authorities for their gross failure. Since they had the legislation, the manpower and state resources at their disposal, blowing off steam in the press doesn’t acquit them on any count. Unless it clears its name by apportioning blame to where it rightly lies, it can’t help its case–not one bit.

No party can enjoy the confidence of their voters, while being a part of a system that reeks of malpractices. And overhauling this system top-to-bottom remains the only way to rebuild this ineffective institution. Greater accountability to hold those involved in conducting an election to account and reforms that allow officers to carry their duties sans any fears should also be a part of the deliberations table. In the meantime, it remains to be seen what the system decides in the case of Daska’s fiasco. Where an unbiased verdict would push it along the crisis management highway, anything done hastily would simply add to the seemingly never-ending grievances against them. *