Claim, counter-claim by govt, PTI about recount for NA-122

E-Paper | April 29, 2026

ISLAMABAD: Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has claimed that victory margin of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has ‘increased’ after a vote recount in Lahore’s NA-122 constituency.

Making a counter-claim, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) said that ‘polling fraud has been exposed’ after the vote recount, and urged the National Assembly to ‘prepare resignation’ of the speaker.

“The cumulative lead of Ayaz Sadiq over Imran Khan has increased by 134 votes,” the minister said while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

Read: NA-122 poll record inspection ‘improves Sadiq’s margin’

Reacting to allegations levelled by PTI chief that some 30,000 bogus votes had been found in the polling bags during the scrutiny of votes, he advised Imran Khan to wait for the official verdict of the election tribunal which, according to him, was expected to come within a week.

Mr Rashid said bogus votes, if found, were not counted as per parameters agreed to by the representatives of candidates before the vote recount.

Also read: 30,000 bogus votes detected, says Imran

Mr Khan had repeatedly said that rigging would be exposed once the polling bags were opened, he said. “But nothing has come out after opening of the bags.” He claimed that the recount result had disappointed the PTI, which had been levelling allegations of rigging in general elections.

Meanwhile, PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari in a statement asked the PML-N to “stop propaganda about the victory of Ayaz Sadiq in the vote recount” and urged him to resign from the office and the assembly.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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AXH

Jan 04, 2015 08:08am

Why is it going to take a weak for the result to come out? If the counting has been completed then the result should come out without any delay. This entire process needs major improvement.

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Basit Khan

Jan 04, 2015 08:31am

Mr. Khan, you owe this nation an apology.

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Zahid

Jan 04, 2015 08:36am

PTI has a simple policy. They are always right even when proven wrong. Shame on them for wasting nation's time and money. They should resign in KPK being an abject failure government.

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Kaleem

Jan 04, 2015 08:42am

Cant they wait 4 days for tribunal to declare results officially. What a circus.

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Kaleem

Jan 04, 2015 08:43am

If bogus votes have not been counted, its fair to declare the winning candidate based on non-bogus votes.

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Mahesh Patil

Jan 04, 2015 09:02am

My way or highway: IK

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rahela

Jan 04, 2015 09:15am

I think Imran Khan has to resign if he has any decency after all the false allegation he made against the Institution and individuals.

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Shakil Khan

Jan 04, 2015 09:33am

"Mr Rashid said bogus votes, if found, were not counted as per parameters agreed to by the representatives of candidates before the vote recount." explains it all

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RAZA

Jan 04, 2015 09:33am

It is one thing to keep on accusing others and an other thing to bring proof. Khan out of all should learn this or rather have known at this late age. He had no moral right to insult so many Institutions and individuals with out having substantial proof of his accusations. He how ever had no one to stop him as he claims no one dictates his terms. Now he is loosing his face with reality and deserves every bit of it as he himself went on and on with his uncontrolled speeches. When the momentum stopped as the Uniformed Men lifted the finge the time came to reflect on all the madness and the reality takes his course again. Knowing Khan, he how ever he will go on with his base less accusations not matter what after all no one dictates his terms but believes he has the God given right to dictate others terms.

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Jan 04, 2015 09:41am

How PTI knew that there was rigging in NA -122? Now we are finding 30000 bogus votes. I believe that these bogus votes were for IK, and Ayaz was declared winner, the PTI surprised by the results because they were confident that IK should have been winner because of dhabdly by PTI in terms bogus voting arranged by PTI?

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Zeeshan

Jan 04, 2015 11:03am

If bogus votes are not being counted and despite that the Speaker is supposedly ahead of original count, then who got those votes? I doubt any other third candidate would have done that. Lets wait for the final result. Its a litmus test for both parties' reputation.

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RAZA

Jan 04, 2015 11:08am

Khan the master in accusation has to now proof his words. He has humiliated so many with his wild speeches no is the time to speck equally loud when the reality comes to light .

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Jack

Jan 04, 2015 11:48am

@Basit Khan: you are jumping ahead of the game. Let's wait and see the outcome of the recount.

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Radiant

Jan 04, 2015 11:51am

@Basit Khan on wat basis? due 2 ur wishful thinking only??

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Salman Ahmed

Jan 04, 2015 12:16pm

PMLn has won fair and square

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Patriotic

Jan 04, 2015 12:35pm

So Mr Rashid is accepting that bogus votes were cast. By whom and for what purpose?

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Yar Nawab

Jan 04, 2015 12:54pm

Why 30,000 bogus votes - it was all fraud - get it !!!!!

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GoodDeedsLeadTo

Jan 04, 2015 12:56pm

It should have been a surprise, if the lead had not widened in favor of Ayaz Sadiq despite so many irregularities/facts listed below. Ayaz Sadiq 122 List of Evidence: 1. 30 thousand bogus votes. The lead is 9000 something, so the judge should reject the results. 2. Majority of bags found open. it makes the results not valid. 3. Counter foils not found on 10 polling Stations 4. Returning Officers record & actual records do not match, they are different. 5. Bags found with provincial assembly votes. 6. NA 124 votes found in NA 122. 7. Form 14 & 15 not found. Result should be based on form 14 & 15, & the required forms not found. This alone is a sufficient reason to reject, otherwise, it should set a precedence to accept results in future without form 14 and 15. 8. Illegal & corrupt practices happened, nobody disagrees. May Allah Almighty give guidance to the judge to pass a fair judgment, Aameen. With so many & large deviations from the expected values, based on the facts listed above, the judges should reject the results, order new elections on this seat. The lead is 9000 something, and increased. It should have been a surprise, if the lead had not widened in favor of Ayaz Sadiq despite so many irregularities, listed above.

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Imran

Jan 04, 2015 01:31pm

IK or AS...Who ever is winner should be disclosed and who ever lost should accept it and tender apology.....There are more issues in Pakistan to look forward than to stick to this one for the rest of 2015...STOP it please

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Narejo

Jan 04, 2015 01:51pm

Even this vote count / result goes in PMLN favor, what about all other proven and coordinated rigging proofs surfaced over the period of last one year against PML N? Should not PM resign, or abid sher ali or at least khwaja asif or rana sanaullah?? I think fraud and mismanagement proceedings should be carried out on ishaq dar and shahbaz sharif for wasting billions of rupees in metro bus, ill planning for expensive energy like failed nandi pur power and not investing subsidizing renewable energy sources and infrastructure investment. Y thr r standards of western Europe for PTI politics and west african standards for PMLN politics? In this country, everything can be managed. Everything is possible. Everyone is either corrupt or self centered or both to the bones.

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junaid

Jan 04, 2015 01:53pm

to all the jazbatis over here calling IK, in case you guys had been reading the newspaper everybody you would have known by know that its a vote audit cum recount. Have you guys been actually following the whole story? According to sources privy to the investigations its a complete audit of votes to check whether stuffing of votes, counter foils and vote descrepancy, lack of signatures and stamps of ROz on ballot papers, lack of thumb impressions on ballot papers and votes of other constituencies and lack of form 14 or 15 are found or not. And as per sources all of the above descrepancies have been found. So hold youre horses till the official verdict is going to come out because 2000 votes of ayaz sadiq also got reduced. islie dil ko tasalia dedo haha. wait till the final resultbis out

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Shafique

Jan 04, 2015 02:02pm

if recounting was so simple why did not Govt. allow this on 4 seats PTI demanded recounting for ? why speaker had to take stay orders for so long... wake up guys

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Jan 04, 2015 02:24pm

@ very intersting logic - good.

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Sadiq

Jan 04, 2015 02:27pm

@Basit Khan Bhai first let the result come. I also agree why the result can not come out right now? why take one week? just to buy time to buy someone and change result? create more controvercy and make another issue to delay it further? if that's the case, just see whose the beneficiary of the delay!!!

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Sadiq

Jan 04, 2015 02:28pm

@Kaleem Why are there so many thousands of bogus votes???? anyone who put that gives enough proof that a lot is fishy.

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Dr AH

Jan 04, 2015 03:15pm

Neither Zardari nor Nawaz Sharif Govt would admit any wrong doing. Is there a neutral Umpire?

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Angel Of God

Jan 04, 2015 03:18pm

during the one year time , PmLn were bringing people secretly to cast vote in these 4 constituencies and paying them to do so ,we must examine the report in detail , like nadra should check if these people r from other constituencies ,

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Sana K

Jan 04, 2015 03:36pm

@Narejo If I may ask. What proofs of rigging have PTI actually provided. All Imran Khan has done is levelled baseless allegations without any proof.

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Riaz

Jan 04, 2015 03:58pm

Why can't all wait for official results now? The counting has been done in presence of both parties.

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Riaz

Jan 04, 2015 04:02pm

@Shakil Khan ; Interpretation as per your desire; bogus votes are always there due to various factors like illiteracy. so, the winner is the one who gets max valid votes. 'MAIN NA MANOON' is not right approach please.

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Riaz

Jan 04, 2015 04:05pm

@Angel Of God ; What a thought Angel: commendable. We can never learn if we don't think straight.

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Riaz

Jan 04, 2015 04:07pm

@Dr AH ; Yes, IK is the neutral umpire, always right.

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Yousuf47 London

Jan 04, 2015 04:10pm

The gloves are off as claims and counterclaims flying across each other if elections were manipulated or won fairly by the Speaker. The number of bogus voters takes the shine off as the intent was to defraud, but ECP may have a job on hand if intent is sufficient to make it void.

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Kaleem

Jan 04, 2015 04:26pm

@Sadiq Assume for a second that PTI people had placed bogus votes in bags. Bad, right? Assume for a second now that Ayaz sadiq had placed it. Still bad, but he is still winning and his non-bogus votes count is still the same (actually it increased). The point is, We are not sure who put these bogus votes, can be anyone, can even be another candidate. So just discard them and see if the original hypothesis still hold true with non bogus votes.

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Dr. Sadaf

Jan 04, 2015 05:06pm

@AXH , there is no such thing as entire process, this is called tampering with the results which they have already done.

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Dr. Sadaf

Jan 04, 2015 05:08pm

@Salman Ahmed , do not fool yourself and others, they do not know the meaning of fair and square.

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altaf

Jan 04, 2015 05:16pm

Come ok IK...... just accept results and develop KPK. Isn't that what you were elected for? whats your accomplishments?

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Abdul

Jan 04, 2015 05:36pm

@Basit Khan It has been admitted on the parliament floor that elections were rigged. What more proof is needed?

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anees zaidvi

Jan 04, 2015 05:55pm

@Zahid - Whose time did they waste? Yours? Did they stop you from work? Did they ask doctors not to work in hospitals? Did they stop teachers and students from educational institutions? Were any factories closed because of this recounting process? What logic do you have behind your point?

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Kamran Saleem Khan

Jan 04, 2015 06:37pm

@Basit Khan What about the speaker? Do you still need a proof. Had he been a man of character, he won't have asked for a stay order.

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Shahid

Jan 04, 2015 07:26pm

Is it all right that 30.000 bogus votes have been discovered in this process. Is it also all right that a large percentage of the votes which are counted in Ayaz Sadiq's favour have no counterfeits? Is it also ok that many of the bags had been opened which surely relate to what has been going on in the basement of NADRA? Is it ok that forms 14 and 15 are missing for more than 70 polling stations? In short, Ayaz Sadiq wins with votes which can not be verified through counterfeits and one would also ask how in the world did presiding officers allowed 30.000 bogus votes to eneter the boxes? The figure is 30.000 not just 30.

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Shahid

Jan 04, 2015 07:30pm

@Kaleem But many of the non bogus votes have no counterfeits so according to the law these are bogus too.

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Jan 04, 2015 07:37pm

"Mr Rashid said bogus votes, if found, were not counted as per parameters agreed to by the representatives of candidates before the vote recount." If there are 30,000 votes whose ID card numbers/Thumb Impressions can not be verified and the difference between the winner and loser is only 10,000, it casts a big shadow of doubt over this election. Mr. Rashid can not be right in this instance because there will be no way of telling which 30,000 votes are unverified. This just means that Election Commission has failed its duty to perform free and fair elections.

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Azmeen

Jan 04, 2015 07:45pm

Let us wait for the official outcome, and accept the findings. Bogus votes don't belong to anyone that is why they are bogus.

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Mustafa

Jan 04, 2015 08:09pm

Just as Imran Khan said, there can be no investigation as long as the Nawaz Sharif gang is in power.

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Zia ur Rehman

Jan 04, 2015 08:10pm

well said

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optimist

Jan 04, 2015 10:54pm

@GoodDeedsLeadTo Very sound analysis. I fully support this. There is enough proof that the election 2013 was rigged.

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Moin Nawaz

Jan 04, 2015 11:16pm

Bogus votes found were 30000, which is much bigger than the margin of victory. This election should be declared null and void

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Syed Ahmed

Jan 05, 2015 12:19am

@Basit Khan. He should, but once it is made clear as why Ayaz Sadiq obtained restraining order from the court if all was well. Why the Nawaz Government took more than one year to open ballot box of NA-122. Ayaz Sadiw once again tried to obtain restraining order, why?

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Random

Jan 05, 2015 01:06am

@Basit Khan why because you said so?

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Jan 05, 2015 02:09am

@Basit Khan Why

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AHMED

Jan 05, 2015 03:48am

Imran Khan and his dwindling number of followers will keep lying until the cows come home. Even the recount results are not enough for him.

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Kamlesh

Jan 05, 2015 06:35am

why too much late how people will believe that counting was done by impartial persons and an impartial election tribunal member what a big mess and fake system.

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Abdul Haseeb

Jan 05, 2015 06:55am

shame on PMLn supporters who support rigged mandate and corrupt practices

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Jan 05, 2015 07:31am

There shall be reelection on this seat, and the judges shall call for it if any of the major process (for eg missing forms 14 and 15, bags not found sealed, mixing of PA and NA votes etc...) is violated. Lets have re-election, which meets every requirement of the constitutions.

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Gulzar

Jan 05, 2015 08:03am

The count is complete why not announce it or bargining is on.

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MUHAMMAD FRQAN KHAN

Jan 05, 2015 08:21am

This discussion is not worth anymore, Pakistan Army (Men at their best)now navigating the country in right direction. In my opinion Imran Khan has played his last inning.

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Adeel Hassan

Jan 06, 2015 07:40am

Just wait and watch for the final decision NA 122.

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