PESHAWAR: The candidates for the recently held local government elections including the nominees of the ruling parties continued levelling allegations of rigging and counter-allegations during separate press conferences here on Wednesday.

Several groups of the losing candidates belonging to various districts and wards told journalists that the opponent candidates influenced the election staff, blocked entry of their voters and threw away their polled votes from the ballot boxes. They demanded re-elections on the seats under the supervision of army.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNA Ayesha Gulalai said that the allegations against her party were baseless and all the rival parties joined hands to destabilise the provincial government.

She told journalists at the press club that her party had no intention to rig the elections but the officials, who remained loyal to the previous government, mismanaged the process to defame the government. It was the duty of Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure fair, impartial and transparent elections, she added.

PTI lawmaker says rival parties have joined hands to destabilise provincial govt

“I deplore in case anyone belonging to my party has ever played a negative role in the elections because. PTI has very clear policy to eradicate corruption, misuse of powers and foul politics,” the MNA said.

Accompanied by a group of women belonging to Karak, Ms Gulalai said that activists of JUI-F had blocked entry of women into the polling stations to win the elections. She said that it was duty of the ECP to hold the elections in phases.

A group of candidates including tripartite alliance nominees Ghulam Mustafa, Masood Afridi, Aurangzeb and Muqadam Shah from union council-9 Sikandar Town demanded re-elections and asked Imran Khan to take action against Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Provincial Minister Ziaullah Afridi for what they called rigging the polls.

Another group of candidates led by ANP’s Shamsur Rehman, Abdul Akbar, Israr Gul and Mukhtiar Ali of union council-21 Nowshera blamed the returning officer and police officials for their failure to ensure participation of women in the election process. They threatened to launch protest if the elections were not re-scheduled within three days.

Similarly, Haji Noor Mohammad, Malik Tasawoor Khan, Mohammad Asif Awan, Ibadat Khan, Fida Hussain and Haji Fawad of union council-48 Musazai Peshawar led by PTI candidate Niaz Gul and Malik Sher Zaman blamed PML-N provincial secretary information Nasir Khan Musazai for influencing polling staff in his locality and harassing his opponents to rig the polls.

They also demanded action against the PML-N leader and re-election in the ward under the supervision of army.

QWP district general secretary Saifullah Khan said that political administration of Mohmand Agency deployed Khasadar Force at union council Garhi Sher Dad because one of the district council candidates Haji Mohammad Ijaz was brother of a political tehsildar Hazrat Khan. He also demanded re-election and action against the tehsildar.

Seven other candidates led by Inayat Khan from Shaheen Muslim Town-I threatened to stage sit-ins if re-elections were not announced. Flanked by Zamarud Khan, Haji Sher Zaman, Malik Irfan, Hazrat Wali Shinwari and Noor Hussain, he blamed returning officers and police for polling fake votes.

Another group of candidates including Said Wazir Afridi, Said Amin, Nawaz Ahmed Khan, Samiullah and Malik Feroz, led by Baz Mohammad of tripartite alliance, said that 85 per cent voters, especially women, were not allowed to enter the polling stations. The candidates also demanded re-elections.

However, a group of newly elected councillors from Wadpaga union council, led by Haji Javed Khan, described the elections fair and impartial, asking their opponents to accept defeat.

The candidates for various seats in union council-86 Larama-I and II also demanded re-elections. Amir Mohammad, Ijaz Ahmed, Ziaullah, Bashir Ahmed, Hameed Ahmed and Shakeel Ahmed appreciated Imran Khan’s offer to hold re-elections under the military supervision.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2015

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