NADRA officials have made revelation of inter-provincial transfer of hundreds of thousands of votes from one province to another by certain corrupt elements within the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). This calls for a thorough probe and strict punishment to the culprits. The government on its part is congratulating itself on the passage of 20th constitutional amendment boasting that it has plugged the loopholes for bogus votes and rigging. These claims, however, amounts to only paying lip service to electoral transparency given the aforementioned incident of transfer of voters’ list to another province.
It turns out that the claims to make the ECP totally autonomous and corruption-free were political slogans. First, we had this present government elected to office through millions of bogus votes and now we are witnessing wholesale tampering with the electoral lists to pave the way for rigging in the upcoming elections. It must not be forgotten that Imran Khan who is displeased with the 20th amendment has already warned that there will be bloodshed on the streets if the polls are rigged this time. The government has made a mockery of the whole process of democracy. It is because of such shenanigans that one is compelled to believe that its plans for a future caretaker setup are largely meant to secure its political survival. The elections have not yet started and we are witnessing errant officials of the ECP committing massive fraud.