Ever since the announcement of the election date and the beginning of the processes towards that end, certain political parties have incessantly claimed that they were being denied a level playing field. In this regard, the most vociferous and persistent rhetoric is coming from PTI leaders and social media warriors of the party. In doing so. they are also hurling allegations at the ECP and the caretaker government accusing them of adopting a partisan attitude towards the party.
These are, indeed, very serious allegations and deserve an objective and anodyne perspective on the issue to determine whether there was any substance in them or whether the party was trying to mislead the masses through a sustained mud-slinging campaign against the government and ECP who are responsible to ensure that the elections are conducted in a free and fair manner with all the parties having equal opportunities to run their election campaign and file nomination papers of their candidates.
In this regard, the major thrust of the party has been on the allegations that their candidates were not being allowed to file their nomination papers and some of them were also being arrested and maltreated. It was also alleged by Latif Khosa that 90 per cent of nomination papers were rejected by the ROs. The matter did not end with building the crescendo regarding the denial of a level playing field by the party leaders but they took the matter to the SC praying for ordering the ECP to ensure a level playing field for the party. The SC did ask the ECP to address the grievances of the party. Though the ECP had already taken the measures to hold free and fair elections, it did listen to the complaints of the party and consequently also issued instructions to the Chief Secretaries and Inspector Generals of police of the four provinces.
There is a law to regulate the elections in the shape of the Election Act and related activities by the political parties as well as their constitutions to hold intra-party elections.
However, when the ECP de-listed the party and denied the election symbol of cricket bat to it for not holding the intra-party elections according to the Election Act and the manifesto of the party, it took the issue to the Peshawar High Court, which, in the first instance, issued a stay order on the verdict of the ECP and later vacated it in response to review petition filed by latter. It, nonetheless, issued notices to all the concerned, including the ECP, for hearing the case for final decision as to the legality of the ECP decision or otherwise.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing developments, which occurred in consonance with the law, the party added more venom to its smearing campaign and also filed a contempt of court notice against the ECP for not complying with its order to ensure a level playing field for the party. A three-member bench of SC headed by CJ Qazi Faez Isa heard the case on the 3rd of January wherein Latif Khosa repeated the allegations that the party had been and even blamed the Chief Secretary and IG police Punjab for playing a role in how PTI was being treated. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till January 8 and issued notices to the Chief Secretary and IG Police Punjab. From the proceeding of the court and the question that the judges put to Ltif Khosa, it can be safely inferred that he failed to substantiate the allegations of contempt of court by ECP.
Having explained the chronology of events and developments concerning the complaint regarding the denial of a level playing field, perhaps, it is now pertinent to look at the ground realities. According to the ECP, 2620 PTI members filed their nomination papers, which incidentally was the highest number, as compared to other political parties. The data amply exposes the fake claims of the party regarding its candidates not being allowed to file their nomination papers. As regards rejection of the nomination papers of PTI candidates, the rejections numbered only 624 which barely accounts for 24 per cent of the submitted nomination papers. It is a verifiable figure issued by the ECP which adequately gives a lie to the claim made by Latif Khosa.
Yet another example of fake news being dished out by PTI and rubbing in the false narrative of denial of a level playing field is a tweet by a run-away journalist now sitting in London in which he claimed that a former MNA of the party, Bilal Virk, was beaten up by the police and sustained injuries when he went to file his papers. However, the propaganda was exposed by the wife of the concerned MNA, who stated that her husband was injured in an accident a few days ago. Such are the ways of the party.
There is a law to regulate the elections in the shape of the Election Act and related activities by the political parties as well as their constitutions to hold intra-party elections. Anything contrary to that is bound to be rejected by the concerned authority which is the ECP in this case. The party failed to hold intra-party elections as per law. Consequently, they were challenged before the ECP which after thorough deliberations concluded that the party had not conducted the whole process according to the law and its constitution. Ostensibly it is a fair decision and the party itself is responsible for the fate that it has met. No party is above law and it was incumbent upon PTI to go by the book and rules of the game. Experts and political experts also believe that the haphazard manner in which the party held these elections gave ample room for them to be challenged in the ECP.
Now as regards the rejection of the papers, the Ros must have had valid reasons to do that. If any RO has made a mistake and not gone by the book then the avenue of Election Tribunals is available for having the grievances addressed. The news is already pouring in where the Election Tribunals have validated the nomination papers of several candidates from different parties including PTI.
However, if the party feels that rejection of the papers of the persons who were involved in the 9th May incidents as well as its masterminds amounted to denial of a level playing field then it is taking a botched view of the whole situation. Nowhere in the world, criminals and those attacking state institutions are allowed to participate in the elections or go scot-free. They are rather punished for the crime that they commit. So, how, could the rejection of their nominations papers be construed as a denial of a level playing field to the party? Action taken against Donald Trump former President of the USA for orchestrating an attack on Capitol Hill as well as the punishments awarded to the rioters by the government of France by forming special courts is before us. The inference that can be drawn from the above arguments is that the mantra of denial of a level playing field by PTI is nothing but a hoax.
The writer is a former diplomat and freelance columnist.
Denial of Level Playing Field?
58
0
05.01.2024
Ever since the announcement of the election date and the beginning of the processes towards that end, certain political parties have incessantly claimed that they were being denied a level playing field. In this regard, the most vociferous and persistent rhetoric is coming from PTI leaders and social media warriors of the party. In doing so. they are also hurling allegations at the ECP and the caretaker government accusing them of adopting a partisan attitude towards the party.
These are, indeed, very serious allegations and deserve an objective and anodyne perspective on the issue to determine whether there was any substance in them or whether the party was trying to mislead the masses through a sustained mud-slinging campaign against the government and ECP who are responsible to ensure that the elections are conducted in a free and fair manner with all the parties having equal opportunities to run their election campaign and file nomination papers of their candidates.
In this regard, the major thrust of the party has been on the allegations that their candidates were not being allowed to file their nomination papers and some of them were also being arrested and maltreated. It was also alleged by Latif Khosa that 90 per cent of nomination papers were rejected by the ROs. The matter did not end with building the crescendo regarding the denial of a level playing field by the party leaders but they took the matter to the SC praying for ordering the ECP to ensure a level playing field for the party. The SC did ask the ECP to address the grievances of the party. Though the ECP had already taken the measures to hold free and fair elections, it did listen to the complaints of the party and consequently also issued........
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