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Monday, June 1, 2015

KPK` Local Bodies` Polls___The Replica of 2013`s General Elections?


Finally, after ten (10) years, the local bodies` elections have been held in KPK in which thousands of candidates from different political parties and also independent candidates contested. Most of the un-official results have been announced in which PTI seems to be taking the lead.
However, hundreds of complaints of rigging, resulted quarrelling, beating, firing and, on top of all, loss of about 12 human lives badly disappointed the people who were expecting a truly fair, transparent and rigging-free elections under PTI`s government. Barring women from casting their votes as per a mutual understanding of different political and religious parties was in addition to all that. In fact, the way local bodies` elections were held in KPK made the entire electoral process questionable.
Everybody knows that PTI was the most vocal party against the alleged rigging in 2013`s general elections. Although almost all the other political and religious parties too talked about irregularities/rigging and lodged complaints against them, PTI was the only party which not only termed the entire election process as a fraud, but also ran a protest campaign against it.
According to PTI`s chairman Imran Khan, there was a by-designed rigging in the general elections to help PML-N win. For all that, he accused Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Returning Offices( RO`s), Care taker government, Geo/Jang group and even then Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan Iftekhar Choudhry.Question is now who should be blamed for all the irregularities, mismanagement, rigging, fights and killings in KPK?

It was Imran Khan who, in addition to RO`s, ECP and former CJP, also held all his political rivals responsible for the problems in 2013`s elections arguing that they had recommended the (non-political) care taker government which failed to ensure fair and peaceful polls. Now, following the same principle, should PTI not be declared liable as its own (not just recommend) party leader Pervez Khatak as Chief Minister failed to do the same?
It is on record that when the by-election was being held in Karachi for NA-246, these were PTI and Jamate Islami which demanded several unusual measures to ensure transparent and free election under a fearless atmosphere. Presence of Army/Rangers and installation of CC TV cameras (both even inside the polling booths), use of bio metric system, deputing the election staff from other provinces for Karachi by-election, were some of them. 
Question is, was any of PTI and JI`s own demanded measures taken to ensure rigging-free and peaceful polling in KPK? Are the leadership of both parties ready to take the responsibility of the badly messed election and loss of 12 lives in KPK for having not taken the required steps?
Ever since the results of the 2013`s general elections were announced, PTI`s chairman Imran Khan had been giving lectures on moral obligation and ethics to PML-N to resign and order re-polls over the alleged fraud elections. Now after a historic mess in the KPK`s local government elections, will he ask PTI`s newly elected candidates to resign and go for re-election to follow the same moral obligation? Unfortunately, the explanations-cum-excuses being given by IK and other PTI leaders for the chaos in KPK`s local government elections is telling the same story which they themselves had been rejecting for last two years.
For sure, whatever took place in KPK, if half of it had occurred in Punjab or Sindh especially in Karachi (during the by-election in NA-246), would Imran Khan have adopted the same stand as about KPK polls?
Honestly speaking, if IK and PTI really want justice in the form of re-elections from the Judicial Commission probing the alleged riggings in 2013, they themselves need to go for re-poll in KPK regarding local bodies` elections. Otherwise, it would be quite shameless that on one hand, they are using the mismanagement, irregularities and to some extent, rigging of 2013 to prove the entire elections null and void, but on the other side, they are rejecting the same (rather worse) when it comes to KPK.

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