The Election Commission of Pakistan, exactly after nine months of the Daska case, announced on Monday (8th November) to either begin criminal proceedings or departmental proceedings against the officials who have been found guilty in the Daska by-election which was held in February this year.
The ECP reviewed the reports of the two investigations it had undertaken into the Daska tragedy under the supervision of Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Saeed Gul in a meeting.
The meeting voted to prosecute all government officials and personnel involved in the Daska by-poll debacle, including those from the police, district administration, and education sectors (including the presiding officers).
Some of the senior officers who have been charged with by-poll monitoring have been found guilty whose names are:
- Deputy Commissioner Sialkot Zeeshan Javed Lashari.
- District Police Officer (DPO) Sialkot Hassan Asad Alvi.
- Assistant Commissioner Daska Asif Hussain.
- Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sambrial Zulfiqar Virk.
- DSP Daska Muhammad Ramzan Kamboh.
- DSP Tarffic Sialkot Mazhar Farid.
- Deputy Director Colleges Sialkot Iqbal Kaloya and others.
The ECP also suspended District Returning Officer (DRO) NA-75 Daska Abid Hussain and Returning Officer Athar Abbasi and announced that they would be prosecuted as well, based on the findings of the investigations.
To oversee action against the officials found guilty in the NA-75 by-poll fiasco, the electoral body has created a committee led by Secretary ECP Omar Hamid Khan and consisting of Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal Hussain, Director General (Law) Muhammad Arshad, and other top officials.
Background
The NA-75 by-poll was held on February 19, this year, and there were major claims of huge manipulation after about 20 POs “mysteriously vanished” during the vote counting. Ali Asjad Malhi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Nosheen Iftikhar of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) were the primary contenders for the by-election in the mentioned constituency.
Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Firdous Ashiq Awan, and government officers/officials were implicated in the rigging of NA-75, according to ECP’s two investigations.
After the electoral body declared the by-election result null and void on February 25, the ECP announced that re-polling would be held on March 18 over the whole NA-75 Sialkot-IV constituency.
The PTI appealed the ECP’s ruling to the Supreme Court. The ruling party’s plea against a by-election in the entire NA-75 was denied by the Supreme Court, and the by-election was subsequently held on April 10, with the PML-N candidate emerging successful in the re-polling.
At the time, the commission directed the Punjab government to remove Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah, the then-Commissioner of Gujranwala Division, and Riaz Nazir Gara, the then-Regional Police Officer (RPO) of Gujranwala Region, from Gujranwala and place them outside the division.
DC Sialkot, DPO Sialkot, AC Daska, DSP Sambrial, and DSP Daska were also ordered to be suspended with immediate effect and should not be allocated any electoral duty in the future, according to the commission.
The ECP stated that it would determine later whether to conduct its own investigation against all of these officers or direct the provincial government to conduct its own investigation.
The commission also held a hearing in the matter, during which the then-Chief Secretary Punjab Jawad Rafique Malik and the then-Inspector General Police (IGP) Inam Ghani informed the electoral body on various elements of the case.
