February 15, 2024
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The Joint Action Committee has expressed serious concern over the operational and procedural discrepancies and difficulties that occurred before, during, and after the polling process in the General Elections 2024. According to the JAC members, anomalies in the election process have been highlighted repeatedly, but the ECP’s failure to address them further undermines confidence in election procedures.
In a letter released on February 15, JAC stated that serious notice must be taken regarding the irregularities that occurred in the pre-poll and polling phases, and also during the counting processes. These include:
- how the disruption of internet and cellular data hampered the efforts of the election staff and monitors. Candidates’ vote count was also obviously affected, thereby affecting the democratic process.
- evidence has emerged of state interference in the form of pre-poll harassment. Bona fide court cases have been transformed into mechanisms of persecution, which have resulted in post-poll use of firearms by Pakistan state officers. This has resulted in Mohsin Dawar’s injury, as well as the death of two National Democratic Movement (NDM) workers, only for exercising their democratic right of Mohsin Dawar and two deaths of National Democratic Movement (NDM) workers for exercising their democratic right to protest and question the delay in election results.
JAC states that these issues shed serious doubt on the transparency of the election exercise, and these discrepancies must be investigated without prejudice, and its outcome must be made public. This would be the only way to win back public confidence in the electoral process.
Other demands and observations by the Joint Action Committee include
- ECP should listen to and address the genuine concerns of the candidates and political parties and address them without delay to establish the transparency of the electoral system.
- Each state institution should stay within its constitutional mandate and urge that an inclusive, people-driven, and consensus-based path be forged that is responsive to the unique political, economic, and social crises that Pakistan faces.
JAC specified that the victims in the situation are not the individuals or political parties, but it is democracy and the rule of law. This is evidenced in the post-election situation and difficulties in the smooth transition of power to the newly elected parties.
It is time that the state recognized the constitutional right of democratically elected parties to form governments and of civilian forces to shape democratic institutions. It is incumbent on political parties and leadership to ensure that such interference is not allowed to derail the democratic process yet again, and to ensure that respect is accorded to the people’s mandate.