PESHAWAR, March 31: The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party has termed the by-election for a National Assembly seat in Bannu a farce and urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to declare it void. It said a fresh election should be held for the seat in a fair and transparent manner.
Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Saturday, PMAP provincial president Mukhtar Khan Yousufzai maintained that if the commission could not hold free and fair election for one seat, how would it ensure transparent election for the entire National Assembly.
PMAP candidate Dr Habibullah Khan — who contested the by-election against Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal nominee Ziad Akram Durrani, the son of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani — was present on the occasion.
Mr Yousufzai alleged that the ECP was a party to the “farce election” and it had facilitated the success of Ziad Durrani by extending the date of election. He said Ziad Durrani was not of the required age and should not have contested the election, but the election commission extended the poll process for 15 days so that he could attain the age of 25 years.
He alleged that the entire provincial machinery was used for the election of Ziad Durrani. He claimed that on the polling day, some “Taliban-like people” whose faces were covered arrived in 70 vehicles and occupied polling booths in Jani Khel and Bakka Khel areas and started stuffing ballot boxes with bogus votes.
More votes were polled than the registered female votes at a polling station in Azeem Killi. This proved that the polls were rigged, he said.
According to the election commission, the turnout was 35 per cent which could not be correct because lawlessness and anarchy in the district had forced residents to stay indoors, he claimed. He alleged that the Taliban were part of the MMA, who had “snatched the by-elections at gunpoint from a liberal and progressive party like the PMAP”.
When told that neither the chief minister nor any member of his cabinet had visited the Bannu district during the electioneering, he said “the Taliban and contractors” were there to rig the polls.
Answering a question, he said the election commission was not weak, but partisan.
He urged political parties to unite and ensure that the general election was held by an independent election commission under a caretaker government.
