Dear Editor,
I wish to explain what happens regarding elections at PPP Congresses. The counting of votes and declarations are not transparent. The ballots could very well be placed before the Returning Officer and called out while two officers on both sides record. Others could observe by standing behind and looking at the counting. In the end we would have four tally sheets. But no. The Returning Officer takes the ballots and divides them among a number of counters. The Returning Officer is selected by the leadership and would usually be a long standing PPPite. The counters would count and prepare their tally sheets. One can understand how difficult it would be to observe the counting of votes.
The tally sheets are then handed to the Returning Officer who enters them into a computer and produces one tally sheet of his making. No one can verify this sheet. At a Congress in Tain, the Returning Officer announced the results from one spread sheet. I noticed when he reached my name he hesitated, looked back and then repeated my name and announced how many votes I received. Of course I did not have enough. I approached him after and asked him to show me the tally sheet, but he refused. He got a big job after; this was the usual practice with Returning Officers.
Sincerely,
Rajendra Bisessar
