Former CEC chief SY Quraishi

ISLAMABAD: Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India SY Quraishi kicked up a controversy on Saturday when he, as one of the observers from European Union and Commonwealth, gave a clean chit to the general elections in Pakistan even as other members of the same team held that the exercise was flawed.

“I think it was a very free, fair and transparent election,” Quraishi told NDTV. However, while Quraishi confined himself to the events on the polling day to come to the conclusion that the polls were transparent and fair, the chief of the EU’s election observation mission, Michael Gahler, dwelt at length at a press conference here on the political environment before the polling which had negatively influenced the vote.

"The entire process was not as good as in 2013 (when elections were last held),” said Gahler in an observation which contrasted with Qureshi's assessment.

Gahler said his team observed no rigging on the polling day. However, he expressed serious reservations over pressure on the media, “far stronger” efforts than usual to encourage switching parties and “judicial conduct”, all of which negatively influenced the vote - a reference to the disqualification of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam on controversial grounds and their resourceful colleagues crossing over from PML-N to Imran Khan 's PTI on the eve of polling.

“We have concluded there was a lack of equality of opportunity. The overall process was not as good as in 2013,” Gahler remarked. The EU had sent 120 observers to monitor elections.

PML-N had complained that its election chances were badly hurt months before the polling due to the role of “Khalai Maqhluq” or extra-terrestrials - a euphemism for the spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). According to PML-N stalwarts, more than 30 candidates had left their party due to ISI’s pressure.

Elaborating on the tense political environment before the polling, Gahler-led mission’s report said: “A number of violent attacks, targeting political parties, party leaders, candidates and election officials, affected the campaign environment. Most interlocutors acknowledged a systematic effort to undermine the former ruling party through cases of corruption, contempt of court and terrorist charges against its leaders and candidates. The electorally sensitive timing, as well as the content of decisions of courts investigating or adjudicating on matters related to high-profile PML-N candidates, were perceived by several stakeholders as an indication of the politicisation of the judiciary. These cases reshaped the political environment ahead of the elections.”

Without taking the name of Milli Muslim League - the political face of 2008 Mumbai terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba which fielded over 150 candidates - the report noted with concern “the emergence of extremist parties with affiliations either to terrorist groups, or individuals linked to organisations that have used, incited or advocated violence”.

Quraishi, who shared his experience of monitoring polls in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, said observers spoke to polling agents of different parties who were present inside the polling booths. “All of them, about 200 that we spoke to, were satisfied with the election process, saying that everything was fine, free and fair. Despite our probing, they did not make a single complaint,” the former Indian CEC stated.

However, Quraishi said the international observers, including him, had raised concern to the CEC of Pakistan over the presence of army personnel inside polling stations.

“He (Pakistan’s CEC) told us that during 2013 elections, the troops were deployed outside polling booths and there were a lot of complaints of rigging. He said the presence of one soldier inside the polling booth, this time, was for the purpose to control rigging,” Quraishi said.

Quraishi said the observers were particularly focusing on the military’s presence anywhere they went “but we found that their presence was just innocuous. They were just hanging around with one man inside the booth and one outside checking identity cards of the voters and it was all going on very smooth”.

Efforts to contact Quraishi were not successful as his mobile was switched off.

