ECP to decide fate of NA-75 Daska by-elections today

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will decide the fate of NA-75 by-elections today whether to go for re-polling or release the results after the completion of an inquiry, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The election commission has summoned the district monitoring officer (DMO) and Returning Officer (RO). After completing the investigation, ECP will take a final decision for re-polling or releasing election results of the NA-75 by-polls today.

Yesterday, it was learnt that the Election Commissioner Punjab Ghulam Israr Khan had completed the inquiry into the record of NA-75 Sialkot-Daska by-poll following the directives of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja who had withheld the results after the polling staff reached late.

The Punjab chapter of the ECP had been directed to investigate the votes’ record of 20 polling stations.

Read: Maryam Nawaz spotted with prime suspect in Daska by-polls murder case

Prime Minister Imran Khan had advised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate of NA-75 to ask for re-polling in 20 polling stations of the Daska constituency.

In a series of tweets, the prime minister had said that “opposition is crying hoarse over in the by-elections in the Daska constituency” and added that he had always struggled for fair and free elections.

“So even though there is no legal compulsion to do so before ECP announces results, I would request our PTI candidate to ask for re-polling in the 20 polling stations,” PM had written in his Twitter message.

The prime minister had reiterated PTI seeking an open ballot for the Senate elections as they want transparency in elections. “We will always seek to strengthen a fair and free election process. Unfortunately, others lack this commitment. When we wanted 4 constituencies opened after the 2013 elections, it took us over two years,” he added.

Read: Two ‘PTI supporters’ killed in firing outside polling station during Daska by-polls

On February 20, Moreover, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz had released several videos of alleged rigging in the NA-75 Daska by-poll and appealed the election commission to take against individuals involved in Sialkot by-poll “rigging”.

She had alleged massive rigging in the NA-75 by-election and demanded re-election in the Daska constituency.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ECP had seized the electoral record of by-polls in NA-75 Daska on Saturday after rigging allegations were levelled against each other in the constituency by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).