RAWALPINDI: Five days after the cantonment elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) complained of rigging and decided to issue a white paper in this regard soon.

After the defeat in the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment board elections, the PTI local chapter convened a meeting of its office-bearers to discuss the reasons. The meeting was attended by PTI Punjab north president Ghulam Sarwar Khan, secretary general Zahid Kazmi and over 150 workers and office-bearers.

Read: PML-N regains ground in cantt areas

When contacted, Zahid Kazmi said the meeting discussed all aspects of the defeat in Rawalpindi, Chaklala and other areas of the region and found that the ruling PML-N had rigged the elections.

“We don’t say the PML-N changed the results but the ruling party won the elections through pre-poll rigging and theft of the PTI mandate in the cantonment areas.” He said the party workers had been asked to collect evidence after which the white paper would be issued.

Local PTI leaders say PML-N won cantt elections through pre-poll rigging

“Before the elections, the PML-N candidates got transferred votes from Mehar Jaffariya, Meharabad and other localities falling in the jurisdiction of Islamabad to the cantonment areas in Rawalpindi,” he alleged.

A senior leader of the PTI told Dawn that the workers and local leaders criticised the role of the committee led by senior vice-president Amir Kiyyani and local MPAs Arif Abbasi, Ijaz Khan, Rashid Hafeez and Asif Mehmood in the selection of the candidates.

In reply to a question, he said many office-bearers and workers criticised the selection of candidates and leveled allegations against some party leaders. “But we asked them to provide proof so that it could be sent to the party chairman.”

He added: “Yes, the selection of candidates was not ideal but we will be careful in the upcoming local government elections.”

He said the party issued show-cause notices to more than 12 office-bearers who failed to participate in the elections and stayed indoors. He said they had been given 15 days to explain their position. The division within the party, he added, was the main reason for the defeat as the two groups each led by Ghulam Sarwar and the local MPAs did not work properly. He said the workers complained that Ghulam Sarwar confined himself to Taxila and Wah while MPAs Arif Abbasi and Asif Mehmood did not run campaigns for the party candidates. “On many seats, they (MPAs) supported independent candidates. Due to the grouping, the party’s votes got divided.”

He said both the groups provided an opportunity to the PML-N to win the seats. The PTI workers lashed out at the local leaders and said the party threw its hat in the electoral arena without a prior homework.

On the other hand, MPA Arif Abbasi told Dawn that the party lost the elections due to the negligence of the office-bearers. Unlike the PML-N, the PTI could not involve its provincial and central leadership in the process. But the selection of candidates was not bad, he added.

“We issued tickets to those candidates had good reputation in their areas. We did not include those who changed parties for local elections. The PTI Punjab north president who was supposed to run the election campaign did not visit the garrison city,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2015

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