PESHAWAR, Aug 20: The Awami National Party has alleged that the provincial government is using official machinery to influence voters in favour of its candidates for the Aug 22 by-elections.

Several complaints lodged with Election Commission of Pakistan in that regard had gone unnoticed, the party said.

However, ANP leaders hoped that people would cast their votes in favour of its candidates as mark of consolation for what they called the engineered defeat they suffered in the May 11 general elections.

A meeting of ANP was held with its leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain in the chair wherein separate committees were formed to supervise by-elections on August 22, said a press release here on Tuesday.

The meeting discussed matters relating to by-elections, it said.Mr Hussain, a former provincial minister, said that the people were unhappy with the poor performance of the provincial government. The candidates supported by ANP would win the by-elections, he added.

He said that ANP workers should ensure their presence at the polling stations and keep an eye on rigging. Use of government machinery was an open example of pre-poll rigging, he said.

Mr Hussain said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf didn’t have the capability to deliver and it was obvious to all that the government would not last long.

He said that government had forgotten its tall claims made with people during canvassing for general elections.

The ANP leader said that people were fed up with the government that had failed from very onset. He said that Election Commission was not taking notice of their complaints against the ruling party in the by-polls.

The meeting, which was also attended by ANP leaders Tajuddin Khan, Arbab Mohammad Tahir Khan Khalil, Mian Mushtaq, Malik Ghulam Mustafa and Sardar Hussain Babak, resolved to work hard for the success of party’s backed candidates in the province.

On the occasion, several committees comprising Hidayatullah Khan, Shakil Bashir Umarzai, Aurangzeb Khan, Munwwara Farman, Yasmeen Pir Mohammad Khan, Arbab Ayub Jan, Rehmat Ali, Waqar Khan, Ayub Asharai, Mian Mushtaq, Malik Ghulam Mustafa, Shagufta, Senator Farah Aqil Shah, Syed Aqil Shah, Musarat Shafi, Jaffar Shah, Haroon Bilour, Yasmeen Zia, Khursheed Begum and Zubaida Ihsan were formed to look after different constituencies.