History often repeats itself as far as disenfranchisement of women is concerned in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa especially in different areas of the Upper and Lower Dir districts.

This time the issue cropped up in the by-elections held on Dec 21 for electing a member of tehsil council in Upper Dir. Not a single female voter reportedly turned up at any of the polling stations in a tehsil council ward comprising Darora area.

The issue triggered a public outcry on social media with the social activists demanding of the Election Commission of Pakistan to declare the elections in the said ward as void and to order repoll.

Irshad Ahmad, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan from Peshawar, says that the information gathered by him transpired that there were total 17,210 votes registered in the said ward, including 6,813 female voters. He said that no female voter cast her vote during the by-elections.

`In past candidates of different political parties and influential people used to enter into a written agreement for barring women from casting votes.

However, such elements have now been relying on verbal agreements so as not to leave any evidenceof their illegal acts,` Mr Ahmad said.

He said that when he contacted the relevant ECP officials he was informed that the concerned district returning officer, who is the deputy commissioner of the area, was asked to clarify the situation and his reply was awaited.

A spokesman for ECP, Sohail Khan, said that on the orders of provincial election commissioner Pir Maqbool Ahmad the DRO had conducted an inquiry and according to information gathered by him no agreement had taken place between the contesting candidates or elders of the area.

He said that now it was up to the Chief Election Commissioner to look into the matter. He said that the ECP had zero tolerance for any practice of exerting undue influence on voters.

The ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan had on June 2, 2015, declared a by-election in PK-75, Lower Dir constituency, as void as not a single of the total registered 53,817 women voters had cast vote.

However, the said judgment of the ECP was set aside by the Peshawar High Court on March 10, 2016, while accepting a writ petition filed by the winning candidate Aizazul Mulk.

Different individuals and organisations had moved the Supreme Court against the PHC verdict and the issue has now been pending there.Prominent lawyer Asma Jahangir had filed leave to appeal petition on behalf of the National Commission on the Status of Women, Aurat Foundation, former MNA Bushra Gohar, and activists Rukhshanda Naz and Tahira Abdullah.

Some provisions were included in the recentlyenacted Elections Act, 2017, which was assented by the President on Oct 2, 2017, so as to plug this illegal practice. The law now declares the barring of women from voting as a penal offence. Section 170 of the Act provides that a person is guilty of exercising undue influence if he prevents any woman from contesting an election or exercising her right to vote. Under Section 167 of the Act, it amounts to corrupt practice if a person exercises undue influence. The crime is punishable by up to three years imprisonment, or with fine of Rs100,000, or both.

Section 9 of the Act empowers the ECP to declare an election void on the ground of disenfranchisement of women. Section 9 (1) states: `Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, if , from facts apparent on the face of the record and after such enquiry as it may deem necessary, the Commission is satisfied that by reason of grave illegalities or such violations of the provisions of this Act or the Rules as have materially affected the result of the poll at one or more polling stations or in the whole constituency including implementation ofan agreement restraining women from casting their votes, it shall make a declaration accordingly and call upon the voters in the concerned polling station or stations or in the whole constituency as the case may be, to recast their votes in the manner provided for bye-elections.

Explanation to the said section provides that if turnout of women voters is less than 10 per cent of the total votes polled in a constituency, the ECP may presume that the women voters have been restrained through an agreement from casting their votes and may declare polling at one or more polling stations or election in the whole constituency as void.

Under sub-section 5 of the said section, any person aggrieved by a declaration of ECP may prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court within 30 days of the said declaration.

Several female voters had moved the high court in 2001 during the military government of General Pervez Musharraf. Those petitioners had alleged that they were stopped from voting through different coercive measures in Swabi district, including agreements reached between contesting candidates in the local government elections.

A two-member bench of the court had dismissed those petitions on March 17, 2004, on technical grounds related to jurisdiction of the court, but itclearly pronounced that the practice of barring women voting was unconstitutional.

`As a matter of fact, employment of such means by any person irrespective of his status and stature in the society will not only be void and illegal but criminal as well which can well be punished under the law. We strongly deprecate all such means, devices, threats and even agreements aimed at restraining the female registered voters from participating in the electoral process,` the bench had ruled.

In 2013, the then PHC`s Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan (now judge of SC) had taken notice of barring women from casting votes in different polling stations during by-elections in NA-5, Nowshera, and NA-25, Lakki Marwat.

A two-member bench of the high court on Aug 26, 2013, ordered to conduct re-polling in those polling stations where women had not cast votes or very negligible votes were cast. However, the Supreme Court on Sept 17, 2013, set aside the said judgment on technical grounds.

Experts believe that on the pattern of the Elections Act 2017, provisions shall be included in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act so as to declare an election void if a specific percentage of female voters do not cast vote. Furthermore, such acts shall be declared penal offence in clear terms in the local government law.