Months after the constitutional deadline, Pakistan witnessed a post-election mockery of its so-called democracy with brazen military interference in manipulating the election outcome. Held on February 8, 2024, amidst political uncertainty and military dominance, the general elections saw systematic attempts to suppress popular parties like Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which was all but officially banned with its leaders incarcerated and election symbols denied. Despite this, PTI sprung a surprise with its candidates initially leading in a majority of National Assembly seats as independents. However, this prompted the establishment to pause vote counting, resulting in gradual receding of the significant leads of the PTI-backed candidates over their rivals and the eventual loss for many of them.
This brazen manipulation has not only brought shame to the already discredited process, it also exposed how far the Pakistan Army can go to manipulate the electoral process. While the Pakistan military’s direct or indirect role in managing the system and especially orchestrating electoral results has been public knowledge for decades, this election vividly exposed its tactics. Surprisingly, the very same modus operandi and methods the Army apparently employed to dictate the outcome of the election (often called ‘selections’) in the past appears to be backfiring now.
As per the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the polling booth-level results are compiled through Form 45, which details the distribution of votes for contesting candidates in a particular constituency. Issued officially by the Presiding Officers of the individual voting stations to all the participating candidates or their nominees/polling agents, the Form 45 document forms the basis of the overall vote count in a constituency, which is then reflected in Form 47 that is issued by the Returning Officers of the Constituencies.
A desperate Pak Army manipulated the vote count at this level. In the past, with the Army’s unchallenged writ and policy of carrot and stick, these discrepancies failed to make it to the TV screens and newspapers, even as the public was well aware of the ground realities. However, with Imran Khan challenging the Army, his party cadre ensured that the electoral fraud committed on their candidates was publicised through social media channels.
Following the conclusion of voting on the evening of February 8, the ECP was constitutionally mandated to conclude the counting process by midnight and announce the complete results by then. As such, by 10:00 pm on February 8, as the initial trends trickled, PTI nominated candidates, running as independents, took an initial lead on as many as 180 seats (out of 265) of the National Assembly, surprising the establishment, political rivals, establishment controlled media and the pro-establishment experts and political analysts.
However, as the popular will became apparent with the express mandate set for Imran Khan, what followed next raised many eyebrows as the ECP abruptly stopped releasing the latest trends on its website and to the media. The significant leads of PTI-backed candidates started receding with the passage of every hour. For instance, in one of the most brazen cases of electoral fraud, PTI’s Salman Akram Raja, a prominent lawyer of Pakistan, who maintained a significant lead over his opponent Aun Chaudary of Istikham Party (establishment created party of PTI deserters), was forcefully “evicted” from the office of Returning Officer of his NA 128 Lahore constituency. This was followed by his lead drastically declining and eventually he was declared as defeated. As per the available Form 45 of the constituent polling stations of NA 128, Raja’s lead over Chaudry stands, yet the RO issued Form 47 declaring his rival as the winner, prompting the Lahore High Court to withhold the official result.
In another instance, Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, forfeited his Sindh provincial assembly seat in favour of PTI-backed Saif Barri declaring that the establishment rigged the counting to make him win even though his PTI counterpart received more votes based on the data from Form 45.
Despite constitutional mandates for timely results, the ECP delayed announcing final figures until February 11. However, this deliberate delay and apparent result orchestration aside, PTI still managed to score a bat-less century, reflecting strong support for Imran Khan. The PTI-backed ‘Independent’ candidates won 95 seats, followed by 75 seats by Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (N) and 54 seats by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan People’s Party, among others.
The election made a mockery of the Pakistani system, drawing criticism from even traditionally allied quarters internationally. Calls for investigating the ‘election fraud’ have been led by the Chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While British foreign minister David Cameron raised “serious concerns over the fairness and lack of inclusivity of Pakistan’s elections”, prominent US Democrats such as Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar accused Pakistan’s military of “rigging the elections” as “Imran Khan was overwhelmingly winning in the popular election” and looked set for a “landslide” victory.
Likewise, the international media exposed the Pakistan Army’s duplicitous role in the country’s political affairs, especially in stage-managing the elections. For instance, France 24 dubbed the election as the “most rigged in Pakistan’s history.” In a report headlined “The ‘generals’ elections’ in Pakistan that turned against the military”, the French public broadcaster stated that while Pakistan’s “real power-wielder”, that is its military “was not on the ballot paper,” it never gave the people any say on the election itself. Likewise, Time magazine called the elections “Brazenly Rigged”, even after “Pakistan’s Military Used Every Trick to Sideline Imran Khan.” A New York Times report contended that the Pakistani military leaders were hoping to put an end to Imran Khan’s politics and hence such a brazen attempt to manipulate the popular mandate. “Never before in the country’s history has a politician seen such success in an election without the backing of the generals, much less after facing their iron fist,” the NYT report stated.
Britain’s Independent broadsheet called the popular yet stolen mandate for Imran Khan a “rejection of military rule: a victory for democracy.” It further stated that this was “little short of an earthquake in a country whose political life is traditionally dominated, usually from behind the scenes, by powerful military chiefs.” India Today, a prominent Indian news outlet, warned that the brazen attempt by the Pakistani Army to upend the popular mandate to orchestrate a new political reality risked perpetual political instability. “While hobnobbing and cobbling up an alliance to suit the establishment must already be underway, any government by ‘selection’ is not acceptable anymore to the people of Pakistan. Should the government formation look different from the mandate of the people, expect chaos in the streets of Pakistan,” the news outlet cautioned.
This blatant manipulation of the popular mandate by the Pakistan Army-led establishment underscores the lengths to which the generals in Rawalpindi will go to retain control of the country. However, the challenge to its decades-long status quo also offers hope for a persistent struggle to reclaim the popular mandate. With a discredited yet weakened military, the decisions made by Imran Khan and his party will probably determine the path that Pakistan would take while moving forward.
The writer is an author and columnist and has written several books. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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