KARACHI, Sept 21: Serious irregularities were committed during polling for the National Assembly constituency, NA-258 in Karachi, in the May 11 general election, revealed a report submitted to an election tribunal here by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

The PML-N’s Abdul Hakim Baloch was declared winner of the seat by securing 52,751 votes while the PPP’s Abdul Razzaq Raja got 36,329 votes.

The result was challenged by Mr Raja who pleaded to the tribunal headed by former Sindh High Court judge Zafar Ahmed Sherwani to order verification of thumb impressions of votes cast at 18 polling stations.

On the orders of the tribunal, Nadra presented the report after the verification.

It said the thumb impressions on 23,432 ballots could not be matched through its system because the quality of fingerprints was very poor. Only 2,475 out of 32,865 ballots were successfully authenticated by the Nadra system.

The verification revealed that as many as 4,680 ballots contained invalid computerised national identity card numbers. The report said 435 votes had been found that were not registered in the constituency and the fact had been ascertained through the CNIC numbers noted on the used ballots.—PPI