Daska by-poll ‘rigging’: Initial inquiries show no establishment role, says Rana Sanaullah
ISLAMABAD: Senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah has said that his party’s initial probe into the alleged rigging within the NA-75 Daska by-poll has not revealed any footprint of the military establishment, while former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani is additionally of the opinion that the establishment appeared to be ‘completely neutral’.
Talking to The News, Rana Sanaullah said that the provincial govt, local administration and police were found involved and therefore the ‘missing presiding officers’ operation was conducted under the command of a DSP.
Sanaullah said that the 20 ‘missing’ presiding officers were crazy their consent by Special Branch officials to a farmhouse belonging to Haji Imtiaz where the Punjab chief minister’s media adviser Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan was allegedly also present.
The PML-N leader alleged that DSP Zulfiqar Virk conducted the operation. He said that Virk was initially appointed as DSP in Daska by the provincial government to manage the by-elections. Following the opposition’s complaints and after the intervention of the committee of Pakistan, he was removed as DSP Daska but posted within the Special Branch and deputed within the same area.
He said that the deputy commissioner and native administration were also involved in appointing chosen presiding officers at selected polling stations. Sensing that the PTI was losing the elections, he added, the chosen presiding officers of 20 selected polling stations were taken to the farmhouse with their consent.
Since the PML-N candidate, he said, was winning the election with a margin of over 3,000 votes, those present within the farmhouse added around 11,000 PTI votes to the tally to form the PTI candidate the winner. due to this, he said, the voter turn-out in those specific 20 polling stations sky-rocketed to 80-90 percent while within the other polling stations it remained below 40 percent. Sanaullah said that the ‘missing’ presiding officers had disappeared separately but were taken to the Returning Office together after having been ‘recovered’ by DSP Virk.
When asked if the PML-N has thus far found any involvement of the military establishment within the Daska by-poll rigging, Rana Sanaullah said, “no”. the whole operation, he said, was conducted during a very crude manner with the involvement of the provincial government, local civil administration and police with DSP Zulfiqar Virk playing the key role.
He said that the election staff within the field was managed by the provincial government through the deputy commissioner and other officials of the local civil administration.
Meanwhile, the ECP withheld the results of the NA-75 Sialkot by-poll and announced that around twenty-four presiding officers had gone missing along side polling bags. The committee had expressed its fear that the results, shared by the missing presiding officers after a delay of a minimum of six hours beyond the traditional time, had been compromised and placed on hold the announcement of the unconfirmed results.
The committee maintained that the results of NA-75 were received after an inordinate delay and explained that several attempts were made to contact the presiding officers but these proved fruitless. it had been also acknowledged that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) himself tried contacting the Punjab military officer of police (IGP) and therefore the relevant commissioner also as deputy commissioner on receiving information from the district official (DRO) and official (RO) about the presiding officers who had gone missing but did not establish contact with them.
The Punjab Chief Secretary was contacted at around 3:00 am to offer an assurance of tracing the ‘missing’ presiding officers and recovering the polling bags for the NA-75 results, the ECP said, adding that he too had “made himself unavailable”.
Asim Yasin adds: Former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani stated that it appeared as if the establishment is "completely neutral", because the Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) parties, the PPP and therefore the PML-N beat the ruling party within the by-elections for 3 seats.
The PPP leader, who has been nominated because the joint Senate candidate for the PDM, thanked the Opposition parties for putting their faith in him.
"I am extremely grateful to the PDM for expressing confidence in me," he said. "The PDM gave me its ticket [for Senate elections], i will be able to represent the PDM," he added.
The former prime minister said that he had gotten elected in 2008 because the prime minister of the country through a consensus, adding that he had secured 264 votes to become prime minister after the 2008 general elections.
"I secured the votes on the idea of my cordial relations [with parliamentarians]," he said. The ex-premier said he would go individually to satisfy each member of the PDM.
"My victory within the Senate elections are going to be a victory for the forces of democracy," he said, congratulating the PDM for its candidates' victory within the recent elections.
The former prime minister refuted speculation that he met PTI leader Jahangir Tareen. "I have neither met Jahangir Tareen neither established contact with him," he said.
Yusuf Raza Gilani, along side the People Party delegation, held meeting with PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman and discussed the upcoming Senate elections. Gilani deliberated upon the continued political situation within the country with Fazlur Rehman.
Gilani said he was thankful to all or any the parties of the PDM for showing their confidence in him for the Senate elections. He said he had received the arrogance of the entire House when he was elected as a major minister with consensus and now he would get the votes within the upcoming Senate elections on the idea of performance.
Fazlur Rehman said Yusuf Raza Gilani may be a joint candidate of the PDM and he are going to be successful within the upcoming Senate elections. Fazlur Rehman said since the name of Yusuf Raza Gilani was announced because the joint candidate of the PDM, there was panic within the ruling elite. Fazulur Rehman said Yusuf Raza Gilani “ was distrust and disturbance within the ranks of the rulers,”
He said all the allied parties of the PDM were united and on same page and can contest the Senate elections from the PDM platform.
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