Islamabad:
During a partial choice in the Circumscription of Sialkot PP-52 on Sunday, the observers that belong to the free and fair network of elections (FAFEN) documented persistent instances of illegal campaigns near the voting stations, isolated voting identification violations, voting processing and accounting procedures.
However, in a three -page report issued on Tuesday, Fafen said that the general environment around the electoral colleges remained a large extent peaceful on voting day.
PML-N candidate, Hina Arshad Warraich, received the largest number of votes in the partial elections arrested after the seat fell vacant due to the disappearance of her father Arshad Warraich. Both the PTI and the PPP had later accused the ruling party of using state machinery to win the polls.
The report says that the partial election was marked by a slight decrease in the participation of voters and a reduction in the number of invalid votes compared to the general elections of 2024 in the middle of insulated procedure irregularities, including the interruption of the counting process by police officers in a voting station.
Despite a decrease in participation, from 50% to 45%, the margin of Victoria increased significantly, from 8,535 votes in GEN-2024 to 39,684 in the victory. The provisional consolidated statement of the counting results (form 47) was ended at approximately 1:15 am, within the legal deadline of 2:00 am
The report cited a particularly serious incident, in which a police contingent entered the facilities of the voting station No. 169 when the ticket count was underway.
“They eliminated the agents and observers of the party present in the counting room and the electoral materials and the voting personnel were taken without waiting for the process to be completed. Fafen could not obtain a copy of the result of the vote station count for the partial election.”
The report said that although the participation of voters in the partial elections was lower than in GE-2024, it was slightly higher than the participation recorded in the recent partial choice of NA-213 UMRKOT held in April 2025.
Female electoral participation fell from 47 percent in GE-2024 to 39 percent, while male participation decreased from 53 percent to 50 percent in partial elections.
“According to form 47, the participation of votes of the PML-N increased from 41 percent in GE-2024 to 59 percent in partial elections. The runner-up independent candidate, backed by PTI, saw a decrease in the participation of votes from 35 percent to 29 percent.”
Fafen had deployed ten trained observers, including seven men and three women, who observed voting and accounting processes in 39 of the 185 electoral centers established in the constituency.
According to Fafen observers, about 79 percent of the electoral plants observed had camps of parties/candidates in the vicinity of the electoral plants, while 85 percent of the voting columns had banners or flags of candidates or parties that were exhibited in their surroundings.
The camps of the party around the electoral colleges also showed campaign materials and distributed infants and voter foods to visitors about 23 percent of the electoral colleges observed. It was seen that the vehicles backed by the party provided transport to voters outside 46 percent of the electoral colleges observed.
He said it was observed that the voting officers were reviewing the National Identity Cards (NIC), marking the thumbs of eligible voters with indelible ink, obtaining their thumb impressions on electoral rolls and hitting their names on the electoral rolls in almost all the observed survey cabins.
“However, it was observed that they were omitting to call the name of the voters aloud so that the voting agents could know the identity of the incoming voters and match it with their copy of the electoral rolls to 49 percent of the voting cabins observed,” he added.
