Partisan Polling Station Officials, Violence and Police Presence in PP-220 By-Election

Partisan polling station officials, Violence and Police presence in PP-220 By-Election, Preliminary Report of PP-220 By-Election Observation

• PS officials stamping ballot papers at 14 polling stations
• Women barred from voting at one polling station

ISLAMABAD, October 13, 2011: Partisan polling station officials, violence and heavy presence of police and security officials inside polling stations marked the by-election for the PP-220 constituency of the Provincial Punjab Assembly [Sahiwal-I], reports the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Preliminary Report of PP-220  By-Election Observation.

The seat was vacated due to the disqualification of Pir Wilayat Shah Khaga, Member of Provincial Assembly of Punjab, who won the 2008 General Elections on a PML-Q ticket by securing 24,880 votes when the voter turnout remained 61.8%. As many as 136,925 voters are registered in PP-220 Sahiwal-I (rural constituency) – 77,207 male and 59,718 female. There has been no new voter registered in the constituency since the 2008 general election.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had set-up 160 polling stations – 36 male, 33 female and 91 combined polling stations. The 160 polling stations had 392 polling booths – 201 male and 191 female.

FAFEN deployed 25 trained observers on Election Day to monitor more than 66 percent of the polling stations set up in the constituency. Observers spent between 45 and 60 minutes in each polling station to document their observations and findings on a standardized checklist that is based on the provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1976, Conduct of Elections Rules 1977, and instructional handbooks that the ECP has provided to election officials. This preliminary report is based on observation of 106 polling stations – 29 male, 25 female and 52 combined. Some of FAFEN’s key findings include:

Suspicious Voting Patterns

There was only one polling booth at one polling station where FAFEN observers recorded suspicious voting pattern. If the polling is most efficient and each voter is taking approximately a minute and 30 seconds for processing (checking of name, checking of CNIC, issuance of ballot paper, going behind secrecy screen, stamping a ballot and returning of stamp to the assistant presiding officer), there can be approximately 45 votes that can be cast in an hour at a booth. However, the rate of voting was slightly higher than possible at one booth of polling station listed below. The following table gives booth-wise average of polled votes per hour. An average higher than 45 brings into question the speed with which the voters were being processed.

Voter Turnout

According to FAFEN observers reporting from 12 randomly sampled polling stations, the turnout was 45% percent, which was lower than the turnout in the general election. The turnout at male polling stations was recorded at 40 percent, 34 percent at female polling stations and 49 percent at combined polling stations.
At PS-111 in Chak 65/4R (female polling station), none of 515 registered women voters turned out to vote under a decree by local influential that bars female electoral participation. No woman had turned out to vote in this polling station in 2008 general elections as well.

Fraudulent Voting

At four polling stations ballot papers were issued without filling the counterfoils, indicating the possibility of fraudulent votes being stuffed in ballot boxes. Similarly, FAFEN observers reported from seven polling stations that the numbers of Computerized National Identity Cards of voters as written on the counterfoils of the ballot books did not match the corresponding entries on the electoral rolls, again raising the possibility that fraudulent voting might have taken place. At eight polling stations, dubious thumb impressions marked on counterfoils of ballot books at the same angle with phasing out ink print were observed. In the case of genuine voters, each thumb impression is marked in fresh, dark ink and may be at varying angles.

Unauthorized Persons Inside Polling Stations

At 99 polling stations, police was present inside polling stations. Under electoral rules, even at sensitive polling stations, police is only authorized to maintain order outside polling stations in order to ensure smooth polling. They can only enter polling stations or booths when requested by the presiding officer. FAFEN observers reported that between 6 and 14 police officials were deployed at each poling station. The Punjab government had deployed more than 700 police and 350 in reserve for the election security in the constituency.

FAFEN observer reports indicate the presence of government officials, local influential persons and provincial government officials inside 16, five and one polling station, respectively. Instances were reported where some of these unauthorized persons attempted to persuade voters to vote in favor of a political party or candidate. Local influential persons at two polling stations, armed civilians at two polling stations, candidates and their workers at two polling stations and political party leaders or their workers in one polling station were involved in such illegal practices.

Observers at two polling stations witnessed that unauthorized persons were attempting to influence the election officials. This included local influential persons at one 1 polling station and political party leaders or their workers and another polling station.

Similarly, efforts to influence the police were made by political party leaders or their workers at one polling station.
At 28 polling stations, FAFEN observers reported that they had seen individuals belonging to contesting political parties wearing campaign badges/symbols of contesting candidates. In addition, at 26 polling stations, people who had already voted were present, while presence of government officials was noted at 17 polling stations.

Campaigning and Canvassing around Polling Stations

FAFEN observers reported from 105 polling stations that the workers of contesting candidates were campaigning and canvassing in violation of election laws that bar the same within 400 yards of polling stations.

Partisan Election Officials and Breach of Right to Secret Voting

FAFEN observers reported from 17 polling stations that unauthorized persons were stamping ballots on behalf of voters. This included polling station officials stamping ballot papers at 14 polling stations, polling agents at two polling stations, and other unauthorized persons at one polling station.

Instances of breach of right to secret voting were observed at seven polling stations where unauthorized persons were going behind the voting screen to assist voters – election officials at two polling stations, polling agents at four and other unauthorized persons at one polling station.

Many of the procedural irregularities especially the presence of unauthorized personnel inside polling stations, including security officials, may just be due to lack of training of election staff, who are generally not clear of their authority under the election laws.

Flaws in Electoral Rolls

FAFEN observers reported from several polling stations that the electoral rolls were flawed or incomplete. Wrong CNIC numbers, unregistered status and other faulty credentials created problems from many voters, many of them were disallowed to vote.

Violence

FAFEN observers reported incidents of violence from five polling stations where the workers of contesting candidates clashed. However police response was instantaneous. At PS-104 the presiding officer was beaten by workers of a candidate.

Interference with FAFEN Observers

FAFEN observers were stopped from observing the voting process at two polling stations by either the presiding officers or the security officials. The ECP allows its accredited observers to monitor all stages of the election, including the opening of polling stations, voting and the counting process.

FAFEN Recommendations

Having observed the aforementioned irregularities during the by-election, FAFEN recommends: 

• The ECP should ensure that security officials perform only their designated duty of maintaining law and order outside of polling stations and do not attempt to manage election officials.
• The ECP should take disciplinary action against polling station officialswho interfered with and influenced the voting process.
• The ECP should reprimand all election officialswho failed to enforce the election rules and laws.
• The ECP and all provincial, district, and local election officials should administer each by-election with the same vigilanceand attention to enforcing the law and procedures as during any general election. The result of any by-election not administered vigilantly should be voided.
• To eliminate unauthorized people from being in polling stations:
  • Presiding Officers should be encouraged and provided adequate protections to use their magisterial powers.
  • All polling officials must be required to carry their Government Service Cards to prove their identity on Election Day.
  • Polling officials should ensure that only one polling agent representing each political party – and carrying proper identification from their party – is permitted in each polling booth.
  • Only people carrying proper identifications should be permitted inside polling stations and allowed to vote.
  • Adequate security checks should be performed in order to prevent unauthorized and armed persons in and around polling stations.
  • All polling officials must be required to carry their Government Service Cards to prove their identity on Election Day.
• Adequate training of all polling officials must be ensured for all by-elections.
• Polling officials should ensure that all campaign materials and camps are removed from around the polling stations.
• More generally, given the consistent weaknesses in ECP by-election administration, by-elections should be minimized by restricting each candidate in general elections to contesting in only one constituency.

About FAFEN: FAFEN is a network of 42 civil society organizations working to foster democratic accountabilities in Pakistan. It is governed by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability.