Defining Democracy in a clichéd form “Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Balloting and the right of vote are the very central pillars of any democratic set up in any country or nation. After a lot of excitement and fears the Election Commission in tandem with the President finally announced the election date as 8th of February 2024 laying to rest all the fears and apprehensions about the next election. Now all the political parties are in top gear with their election campaigns and canvassing for votes for their nominated candidates for the national and the provincial assemblies.
Despite the suspense created by the announcement of the election date questions are now being asked about the possibility of some political engineering and the tilt of the powerful establishment towards some political party and its leaders. All political parties are now shouting from the roof tops about the necessity of a level playing field and casting aspersions on the role of the Election Commission and the care-taker government. It now appears that the scale of justice seems to be tilted in one specific direction and the election results have already been decided so why waste such a huge amount of money on the election process when the outcome is already known. The refusal by various ROs to accept the nomination papers of numerous candidates has added fuel to the raging fires of rumors and comprehensions about the fairness or transparency of the next general election. Karachi-based human rights activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir has contested in at least two elections and managed to put together only about 6,000 votes in the constituencies he contested. He as someone who stands for democracy has now offered to legally represent or advise PTI candidates from his constituency in Karachi; the papers of these candidates have been mysteriously rejected. All candidates whose nomination papers have been rejected are likely to appeal in the courts of law and it is yet to be seen what will be the result of these appeals. It is now feared that the candidate who is the favoured one for the Prime Ministerial slot will win the election with ease and his party will get a simple majority in parliament to form a coalition government. with the help of the smaller parties and the independent candidates in parliament. It is now obvious that the results of this election may not be in the hands of the voters as in the 2018 elections because it is widely believed that the voter turnout will be abysmally low because of the voter disillusionment with the major political parties and the strong support enjoyed by the PTI, especially in the youth of the country. By low turnout it becomes easy to influence voting patterns as it happened in 2018 when an entire group of electoral staff mysteriously disappeared for many hours and then reappeared again. Such a prospect is rather disturbing and scary because the entire purpose of elections is to allow the public to express their opinion and elect the candidates of their choice irrespective of anybody’s like or dislike. Our next door neighbour India may have many flaws and schisms in their system but their political system and democratic institutions are definitely to be admired and learnt from. Since independence in 1947 with the first Government, led by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru the elections process has been very fair and transparent with a few controversies from time to time. One glowing example can be the victory of Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Admi Party is a good example of small new parties with manifesto of eradicating poverty in their areas. Arvind belongs to a lower middle class family and his mother makes a living as a cleaner in private houses and offices but his party is now the ruling party in the Punjab after his massive election victory. Such a political victory is not possible in Pakistan and despite all the flaws of the Modi Government. such examples of their system are worth emulating or learning from. An entirely open field is not available in our country the process leaves a lot to be desired to be fair-impartial and transparent.
As we hear so many rumors about the next general election it will be quite fair to say that this is nothing new. If we take a leaf from history and have a look at the 1965 elections that had Ayub Khan facing Fatima Jinnah as the candidate for the presidency of Pakistan. Ayub Khan was the grandfather of Omar Ayub Khan the Secretary General of the PTI and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb a judge of the Islamabad High Court. Ayub Khan as we all know was the first military ruler of Pakistan who abrogated the 1956 Constitution kicked out President Sikandar Mirza in 1958 and then went on to rule the country for the next ten years. When Pakistan went to the polls on January 2, 1965, “the results gave Ayub a clear, convincing, even thumping victory, and the opposition was stunned by the crushing defeat.” Ayub secured 49,951 (62.7 per cent) of the 79,700 Electoral College votes cast, and Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah 28,691 (36 per cent). West Pakistan gave Ayub a massive 28,939 (73.3 per cent) and Mohtarma Jinnah a meagre 10,257 (26.7 per cent).” The large cities had generally gone with the opposition while “Ayub’s massive hold in rural areas was indisputable.” The national and provincial assembly elections that followed in April also resulted in a huge majority for Ayub Khan’s party. The nation witnessed political engineering in 1965 and 59 years later nothing seems to have changed. For an election result to be accepted by all stake-holders it should not only be fair but also transparent. People must have full confidence in the election process and should see the entire process working if this is not the case then the entire process of holding elections becomes meaningless.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
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views expressed are writer’s own.
