PESHAWAR, Jan 13: Naseer Mohammad, a former colleague of Mian Nawaz Sharif and an independent candidate from Lakki Marwat, has called upon the Election Commission to take notice of pre-poll rigging by his rivals in the area.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, he alleged that his political rivals, Salim Saifullah and Anwar Saifullah, had registered over 700 of their factory workers in Lakki Cement as voters, despite the fact that they had already been registered in their native towns in Sindh, Punjab and NWFP.

He said it was unlawful to get registered as voters at two places, but the Saifullah brothers were out to steal the election at all costs. He claimed that his rival candidates had recently posted their own people (teachers and clerks) in Lakki to rig the polls.

He alleged that an engineer at Pesco’s development section had also been indulging in illegal activities and running the election campaign of the brothers by handing out transformers, electricity poles and bundle of wires in the constituency.

He accused the FM 88 radio, owned by Saifullah Brothers, in engaging in ‘character assassination’ of their opponents and said it was the duty of the EC to annul the broadcast till the transfer of power to the next government.