ECP inquiry report holds election officials, police responsible for Daska by-poll mess

The investigation report was prepared by the Joint Provincial Election Commissioner Saeed Gul.

According to the report, the election officials and other government functionaries "did not play their designated role in a requisite manner and they were found puppets in the hands of their unlawful masters".

The fact-finding team gathered details from official records obtained from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Islamabad; Intelligence Bureau, Islamabad; District Police, Sialkot; Elite Police Force; written statements and supplementary question and answer sessions of the presiding officers (POs), senior assistant presiding officers, naib qasids, drivers, and police personnel, etc, the report said.

The controversial by-election was marred by violence, rigging and the disappearance of over 20 presiding officers (POs) and subsequently, a fact-finding inquiry was launched to probe into the irregularities.

Subsequently, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had withheld the results of the February 19 by-poll and ordered re-election in the entire constituency after suspicion that the results may have been falsified. The order was later upheld by the Supreme Court.

A by-poll was held in the constituency in April, with PML-N’s Syeda Nosheen Ifti­khar winning the contest by securing 110,075 votes against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Ali Asjad Malhi, who had bagged 93,433.

The report submitted by Punjab Joint Election Commissioner Saeed Gul to the Election Commission of Pakistan secretary said the statement given by the 20 POs who were "forcefully taken to some unknown places invoked the point that ... facts were being concealed by the POs".

It noted that while the said POs blamed police for the irregularities reported during the by-poll, "their statements can never justify their negligence and maladministration".