ECP to take action against officers involved in Daska by-polls fiasco

• ECP forms committee to take action against officials involved in Daska by-polls debacle.
• Firdous Ashiq Awan slams "PML-N-ECP nexus".
• A report has revealed Daska by-election were not conducted in free, fair manner.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday said it will initiate departmental proceedings or criminal proceedings, or both against officials involved in the Daska by-poll fiasco.

The decision comes after the ECP had released an inquiry report last week, revealing that the NA-75 Sialkot-IV by-election held in Daska on February 19 was not held in a fair, free, and transparent manner.

The ECP has decided to take action against the officers during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja with the body's members in attendance, a statement from the body said.

The ECP has constituted a committee comprising special secretary, director-general law, and other officials, who will assist the election commission in the inquiry against all the officials involved in the debacle, the statement said.

The statement revealed that the returning officer (RO) and district returning officer (DRO), who — according to the report — had failed to do their jobs, were ordered to report to the ECP.

Both the officials are now officers on special duty (OSD), while the election commission mulls further action against them in line with the report's findings, the statement said.

According to the ECP's investigation report, RO and DRO remained confined to their offices and failed to discharge their responsibilities properly. Both RO and DRO also refrained from taking decisions under sensitive situations.

The ECP's inquiry report was compiled by two committees, which were tasked to find out the reasons behind the debacle.

The fact-finding team gathered details from official records obtained from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Islamabad; Intelligence Bureau, Islamabad; District Police, Sialkot; Elite Police Force; written statements and supplementary question and answer sessions of the presiding officers (POs), senior assistant presiding officers, naib qasids, drivers, and police personnel, etc.

'PML-N-ECP nexus'

PTI's Firdous Ashiq Awan's name was also included in the fact-finding report.

According to the report, of the staff employed for election duty from the education department, Muhammad Iqbal Kaloya, Deputy Director (Colleges), Sialkot, was found involved in attending meetings at AC House, Daska, "which were meant for manipulating the election process", in which Ali Abbas, Zeeshan Javed, Asif Hussain, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Muhammad Awais, and some other persons were present.

Responding to the inclusion of her name in the report, Awan on Monday said she had moved Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and ECP against media, PML-N, and the election commission itself.

"I will continue to expose the PML-N-ECP nexus," she said.

The former aide to the prime minister said PML-N and ECP had played a "vicious game" to release an "unsigned report".

She told PML-N that they could not succeed in their "nefarious goals" against her.

Without naming, she said that a media group had "blatantly violated" journalistic norms by airing an unsigned report from the ECP, which proved PTI's reservations against "PML-N-ECP nexus".

Speaking during a press conference last week, Awan had said that the report presented by an ECP official on the manner in which the Daska by-elections were held is being "distorted".

Later, on Saturday, speaking in Geo News' programme "Naya Pakistan", Awan said that the Punjab government will issue an official statement regarding the ECP report.

"The report did not mention any ill-intent on my part," she said, adding that her name has been mentioned in the report "to give it a certain colour".

Call for PM's resignation

PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, commenting on the report, had said that if Imran Niazi has the slightest respect for the law, democracy, and political ethics, then he should resign.

Shahbaz, in a statement issued Sunday, said that after being exposed for stealing votes in the Daska by-polls, Imran Niazi needed the "black electoral reforms, the National Accountability Bureau Amendment Ordinance, and electronic voting machines (EVMs)" to cover his government's wrongdoing.

SC should take notice

In a press conference on Sunday, the PML-N had demanded that the judiciary take a suo motu notice on the Daska by-election for "violation of the Constitution".

PML-N stalwart and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, addressing the media, said that Article 240 of the Constitution says all institutions should help the Election Commission of Pakistan in holding transparent elections.

He said that the ECP's report contains the names of all those involved in the "rigging" of the polls held on February 19, and that a meeting held in this regard was attended by "many PTI members".

"The meeting decided how the election would be rigged," he alleged.