AS was widely expected, different political parties, that lost seats to rival candidates, have started hurling allegations of systematic rigging in General Elections 2024 as workers and supporters of PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI(F) are on the road on the plea of alleged discrepancies in election results as shown in forms-45 and 47. They are on a path of collision staging sit-ins and blocking roads, vowing to continue their protest indefinitely.
Protest is the democratic right of the individuals and parties but this must be based on cogent reasons and undeniable evidence in support of allegations. There is an elaborate mechanism to ensure transparency of all stages of elections and in case of any discrepancy in the count in forms-47 vis-à-vis forms-45 then it is up to the relevant appellate forums to examine the record and decide disputes accordingly. The tendency to level allegations at all costs to make the entire electoral exercise controversial is highly deplorable as it has consequences and implications for much-needed political and economic stability. In fact, this is not for the first time that such allegations are being levelled by defeated candidates and that is why the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), which was in Pakistan to witness polling, has called for magnanimity in victory and graciousness in defeat. This is the essence of democracy, which is absent even after 77 years of our independence that should be a source of concern to all stakeholders. The individuals and parties levelling allegations of manipulation of results have the opportunity to agitate their grievances before election tribunals and thereafter higher judiciary and would be justified in organizing protests and rallies if the allegations were upheld but justice was still denied. Presently, the allegations are mostly politically motivated and are based on the initial counts of results of a small number of polling stations and not the entire constituency. The COG observers were deployed in various areas, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Karachi, Hyderabad and Abbottabad on February 6, 2024 to observe election preparations and voting and they expressed satisfaction over the entire process. In fact, the controversy has been triggered by rating-hungry electronic media and disinformation spread by vested interests through social media. It is strange to say that transparent elections were held where a party won seats and rigging was done where its candidates lost. The fact that the PTI-backed independents secured two-third majority in KP, emerged as the largest group in the National Assembly and PPP received overwhelming mandate in interior Sindh speak volumes about fairness of the entire electoral process. Why are political parties unable to digest results in Punjab and urban Sindh when these two regions have remained strongholds of PML(N) and MQM-P respectively? One should also not raise accusing fingers towards institutions and system if in some constituencies the number of the rejected ballots was more than the margin of victory. There is an established procedure to reject votes and there was nothing wrong if that procedure was followed in rejecting votes during the counting process. Genuine rejected votes cannot and should not be counted to the advantage or disadvantage of a candidate. We hope all parties and candidates would listen to the call of the COG as has already been done by former Minister and PML(N) stalwart Khawaja Saad Rafiq, who accepted the defeat immediately. Instead of adopting aggressive posture and instigating workers, political leadership should demonstrate maturity and sportsmanship and play their part in the next phase of government formation. This means mandate given to the parties at the centre and in the provinces should be accepted wholeheartedly and winners be allowed to form governments without horse-trading. It is encouraging that the PTI core committee has tasked some leaders to liaise with newly elected members in a bid to form governments at the Centre, in the KP and Punjab. On the other hand, PML(N) has floated the idea of a participatory government at the centre as no political party has mustered the numbers needed to form its own government. According to reports, the party is working on a formula for power sharing which would be discussed with other political parties, especially PPP and MQM-P, whose role has become crucial for government formation in Islamabad.
