October 13, 2002	Sunday	Sha'aban 6, 1423

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QUETTA, Oct 12: Candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and Awami National Party, Khalid Khan Advocate and Asghar Khan Achakzai, have demanded re-election in the two constituencies of PB-9 (Pishin-II) and PB-11 (Killa Abullah-I).

Khalid Advocate, flanked by Balochistan PML(Q) General Secretary Malik Sarwar Khan Kakarby, made this demand while speaking at a press conference here on Saturday.

He said armed supporters of the MMA had taken over various polling stations in the area and opened fire in a polling station, which had killed a PML(Q) polling agent and injured a presiding officer.

They had also snatched ballot papers from the polling staff at Sanjavi and other places, he said and added that the ballot papers had been recovered from them later by the police. However, no action had been taken against them, he said.

Mr Khalid claimed that in some areas, presiding officers had allowed polling agents to cast fake votes.

He demanded of the chief election commissioner to take notice of the ‘massive rigging’ in NA-261 (Pishin-Cum-Ziarat) and PB-9 (Pishin-II) and cancel the results of election on these seats.

In the meanwhile, Asghar Achakzai, an ANP candidate for PB-11 (Killa Abdullah-1), and a former provincial minister Naseer Ahmed Bacha also demanded the re-election in the constituency.

Speaking at a press conference in Chaman, they alleged massive rigging during the polling and threatened that the people of Chaman would not allow re-poll for NA-262 if the result of the PB-11 had not been cancelled.