PESHAWAR, July 11: People’s Muslim League candidate for the AJK Legislative Assembly Valley VI seat, Sufi Irshad, on Tuesday boycotted the election, accusing the returning officer of supporting the Jamaat-i-Islami candidate, Afzal Bari, in Peshawar.

Speaking at a press conference, Sufi Irshad said that the AJK Election Commission had allotted bicycle as the symbol to his party’s candidates but the returning officer in Peshawar had refused to allot him the symbol which, according to him, was tantamount to rigging. “The returning officer had allotted me lantern as election symbol,” he said.

‘‘The returning officer also turned down the order of the election commissioner, he said”.

On June 28, he filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court and it ordered the returning officer to allot him the election symbol, he said.

The returning officer allotted him bicycle as symbol on July 10, but in the ballot-paper lantern was shown as his symbol, he complained.