PESHAWAR: Hundreds of candidates on Monday thronged the offices of the district returning officer and returning officers along with visual and documented proof of what they called the massively rigged elections in the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They demanded of the authorities to declare the local government elections null and void and hold re-elections. Police and Frontier Constabulary personnel resorted to baton charge to disperse the candidates when the number of the complainants, assembled outside the deputy commissioner, also district retuning officer, reached several hundreds.

After the baton charge, the gate of the deputy commissioner office was locked and the complainants were not allowed to enter, however, they were trying to hand over their written complaints and applications to the district administration officials from across the fence.

Talking to Dawn, several of the losing candidates alleged that police and polling staff were favouring the candidates of the ruling PTI.

Farhanullah, who contested election for the seat of peasant from ward 64 Lala Kaly, showed a picture taken through his cellular phone in which a presiding officer was stamping the ballot papers. Another picture was of a police constable with thumb having ink. The same police constable disappeared from the scene when objections were raised by the rival candidates of PTI, he added.

After the polling time, he said, the counting of ballot papers should have been started inside the polling station established at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School Tarnab. “However, police and the polling staff took the ballot boxes to unknown place and the result was handed over to us today (Monday),” he said.

Mr Farhanullah alleged that the ballot papers having stamps on the election symbols of candidates other then PTI were thrown. He showed such ballot papers to this scribe. He demanded of the Election Commission of Pakistan to declare the elections null and void and order Candidates throng Peshawar DRO office to lodge complaints re-polling across the province.

Mohammad Masood Afridi, who contested election for the district council seat as independent candidate from ward 9, said that only the election agents of PTI were allowed inside the room where the polling booth was established. He alleged that the polling staff was not neutral rather it was supporting the PTI candidates.

He said that several ballot papers were polled on a single identity card in Afridi Garhi neighbourhood area.

Abdul Aleem, who contested election from Nakai area, said that polling was started at 8am but it was stopped after few minutes as the election symbols of youth and peasant were missing from the ballot papers.

However, after about two hours, the polling was restarted which hardly continued for two hours but it was again stopped when the ballot papers for district and town members were finished.

The polling staff arranged the ballot papers after one hour which also ended at 3am and the polling was stopped till the scheduled time. Of 4,000 registered voters, he said, only 700 polled their votes. He demanded of the ECP to hold re-polling in supervision of army.

Another candidate from Lala Kaly alleged that the polling staff had taken the thumb impression of his women supporters but didn’t provide ballot papers to them.

Our Correspondents from Timergara adds: The losing candidates in village council Koheray of Balambat ward here on Monday rejected results of the local government elections and demanded re-polling at one of the polling stations.

Speaking at a news conference, Mashoq Jan of PPP, tehsil council candidate Gul Mir Khan, Janaat Gul of JI, Shamshir Khan of PTI and independent candidates Sharif Gul and Haji abdul Salam accused the polling staff and police of rigging the polls in favour of ANP candidates.

They said that the staff created hurdles for the supporters of other candidates. They said that due to inefficiency of the polling staff many voters were deprived of their right to vote. They alleged the polling staff was partial.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2015

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