The coveted seat of NA-122 sadly remains a bone of contention despite both political parties, PML-N and PTI, getting a fair shot to contest the election. An election tribunal on Friday issued a notice to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on the insistence of PTI candidate Abdul Aleem Khan, who filed a petition alleging irregularities and pre-poll rigging in the NA-122 by-election. It seems that after all the excessive funds pumped into the election campaign by both parties, Mr. Aleem Khan is having a hard time accepting defeat and wants to get his money’s worth. Of course he cannot pursue this allegation without the support of his party who refuses to accept its flailing popularity despite the taunting results of the Local Government Polls across the country.
The petition filed alleged that at least 30,000 votes had been cancelled and shifted from the NA-122 constituency before the by-poll. It said the ECP had the record of shifting of only 7,000 votes from the constituency, adding that this act of the commission was amounted to pre-poll rigging. This continuous harassment of the ECP will not in any way empower it to do its job properly. Pushing for electoral reforms is a better way to address the grievances if the opposition were to play a positive influential role, which it has failed to do with all this uproar over rigging.
Ayaz Sadiq on the other hand is frustrated for being blamed for the incompetence of the ECP insisting that the body should be held responsible for holding free and fair polls, and it is unfair to hold him accountable for its sins. Perhaps it is a fair argument to make that unless there is evidence that the PML-N candidate is directly responsible for rigging, he should no longer be harassed and should be allowed to do his job. It is the general consensus that the PTI should move beyond the rigging saga and make the time it has in power, before the next general elections, count.