ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday ordered the recounting of and verification of thumb impressions on votes polled in two National Assembly and seven Punjab Assembly seats.

After allegations of rigging on PP-39 (Khushab-I), PP-43 (Mianwali-I), PP-205 (Multan-XII), PP-9 (Rawalpindi-IX), PP-257 (Muzaffargarh-VII), PP-155 (Lahore-XIX) and PP-156 (Lahore-XX) as well as two National Assembly seats, including NA-125 (Lahore-VIII), the commission ordered the recounting and thumb impressions' verification.

It is pertinent to note that activists of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) had alleged rigging during the election for NA-125 and had staged a sit-in to register their protest over the result from the said constituency.

Earlier, Khawaja Saad Rafique of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) was said to have won from the seat securing over 120,000 votes and defeating PTI’s Hamid Khan (83,000). After which, Khan had requested the ECP for a vote recount on NA-125, which the commission had reportedly rejected at the time.

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...