Pre-Poll Rigging Plans Gets Disclosed
Pre-Poll Rigging Plans Gets Disclosed: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujat Hussain has alleged that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has made the worst ever pre-poll rigging plan. This time the ruling party has used bureaucracy to get delimitation of their own choice.
Nearly 30% impact of delimitation takes place before elections. “If delimitation is done by the PML-N ‘servants’, then their candidates will win 2018 general elections while sitting at their homes,” he remarked. He underlined that #electoral reforms are inevitable prior to holding of general election otherwise rigging masters will win again.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has done delimitation on unofficial results. Keeping in view the past practices, many techniques of rigging (pre,polling day and post polling day) are feared to be adopted during the 2018 General Election.
Past instances and current developments suggest that 7 different methodologies of pre-poll rigging, are being or can be adopted.
Pre-Poll Rigging Techniques:
1)- Among the first pre-poll rigging strategy is asking politicians to quit one party and join another party or to contest elections as an independent candidate. From the past precedents, according to many published reports, many candidates admitted that they were pressured to quit one party and join the then ‘Kings party’ PML-Q.
2)- In the second pre-poll rigging strategy of micro-level management which was rarely adopted in past, community leaders and small local groups leaders or active members of civil society are “asked” not to support unwanted political party and to support another political party. An election can be rigged to 50% percent by force by adopting these first two pre-poll rigging strategies. Independent or foreign observers can examine which of these strategies are being adopted on ground at present.
3)- The third pre-poll rigging strategy includes using religious card, provoking people belonging to certain religious groups, feeding them with false and untrue information to break/divide vote bank of strong political party in that constituency.
4)- The fourth pre-poll rigging strategy is to use some controlled media anchors to spread falsehood, misrepresenting achievements of political governments and spinning or twisting facts or unfolding wrongs.
5)- Getting nomination papers of unwanted politicians rejected if they refuse to fall in line is also another strategy of pre-poll rigging. Getting nomination papers of some weak candidates having issues with their credentials accepted is also a technique used to make certain candidates fall in line.
6)- Late distribution of ballot papers and polling material to polling stations of specific important constituencies where competition is expected to be tough between the unwanted political party and favorite political party is also another technique to control or manoeuvre things.
7)- Past instances show that the 7th pre-poll rigging technique can be the silence of relevant ECP officials over violation of important clauses of Code of Conduct like using pictures of government officials like heads of institutions of judiciary and defence on their banners and posters, leveling unverified allegations against opponent political parties and politicians.”
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