LOCAL government polls were finally held in some districts of Punjab and Sindh last week. As a presiding officer I faced various hurdles and challenges in the first phase of the three-phased LB polls. Apart from buying and selling of bogus votes and violence, there were other problems as well.
All presiding officers were told to make their presence at 9am sharp to collect their election material from the SDM office, but unfortunately the presiding officers received it after a long wait of nine hours.
Sorting out the mistakenly swapped election material among presiding officers exhausted them even further.
Anachronism and the incorrect election spellings of symbols were quite a common occurence at almost all of the polling stations. After concluding the results of their polling stations, the presiding officers went to the SDM office to submit the results but there they were told to submit these results at the DC office on account of this reason.
The presiding officers kept submitting the results even until lam. Nowhere during the training or while collecting the election material was it mentioned where the results would be submited. The non-availability of transportation made some presiding officers arrange transport at their own cost.
One cannot put all these blames on the Election Commission of Pakistan only.Priorto the election,teachers andlecturers were being trained but their unexplained absenceforced thereturning ofHcers to assign untrained health workers to perform this duty.
Undefined powers of political agents turned the peaceful polling into a violent one.
Last among these challenges was the opaque influence of moneyed interests, felt especially through unmarked advertising in the media.
Keeping all this in view, it can be said that the ECP did its best. However, some effective measures must be taken to prevent such problems in those union councils where elections are yet to be held.
Asma Hussain Morio Larkana (2) THIS is apropos the report `11 killed in Khairpur gunfight` (Nov 1).
Violence has become a permanent factor in any polls in Khairpur. This violence occurred between two political groups taking part in local bodies` elections. It is difficult to comprehend why people resort to violence so quickly and easily.
Why should a difference of opinion lead to voters` death. These extreme groupings, gunfights and violence certainly do not show any enthusiasm to `serve the people` after being elected to local municipal offices.
One wonders how long it will take for aspiring office-bearers to do away with violence and contest elections fairly and squarely to win seats and serve the people to win hearts.
