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LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is gathering the evidence of changes in voter lists of the Election Commission of of Pakistan (ECP) for NA-122 by-polls, which the party lost to the ruling PML-N candidate on Sunday.
Led by PTI Punjab organiser Chaudhry Sarwar, a cell has been set up to probe into the reports after receiving at least 100 complaints by voters.
The cell on Tuesday wrote to the ECP to obtain the computerised voter lists used for the by-polls on October 11.
Mr Sarwar also instructed the party cadre to collect evidence of shifting of votes, allegedly in thousands, ahead of the by-election.
The communiqué to ECP secretary Babar Yaqub on Tuesday alleged that “…names of [a] large number of voters were either transferred to other constituencies or deleted from the voters’ list, without the intimation and permission of the concerned voters”.
PPP backs PTI claims on vote transfer
It says the voters came to know about the changes only at the polling stations. It emphasised that the voters had cast their votes in the 2013 general elections and that they had never applied for the transfer of their votes.
Claiming that this addition and deletion led to the very close defeat of PTI candidate in NA-122, Mr Sarwar requested the ECP secretary to provide the party official record pertaining to the transfer of votes in comparison to the 2013 voter lists and also the list of voters, which were transferred from NA-122 to other areas, who had voted here in General Elections of 2013.
PPP: The PPP has endorsed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s allegations of transfer of a large number of votes from NA-122, and asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to investigate the matter to bring out facts.
“The PPP Punjab demands the ECP take up the matter without any delay and contact political parties to present evidence of the allegations in order to proceed further because fairness of the whole electoral process is at stake,” said Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, PPP Punjab secretary general, in a statement here on Tuesday.
“It is believed that the ruling party in connivance with the National Database and Registration Authority transferred thousands of votes from NA-122 to other constituencies in order to give advantage to its candidate to secure a victory,” he said, adding if the allegations were proved with irrefutable evidence then the winning candidate should be disqualified from contesting election in future and those who played the role of abettors proceeded against.
Kaira said an investigation was necessary to ensure free and fair elections.
Published in Dawn, October 14th , 2015
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Comments (45) Closed
Oct 14, 2015 09:16am
Thank you Imran Khan for making our electoral process a lot cleaner as compared to what it was before. Don't give up and keep fighting to correct to remaining flaws. Advocate biometric system and curb all forms of rigging. This nations owes a lot to you. Our generations will benefit from your struggle.
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Oct 14, 2015 09:20am
Imran Khan determined to close all doors for possible riggings one by one. This will ensure fairer elections in future and should be commendable.
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Oct 14, 2015 09:30am
They started again..........were they sleeping before election...the lists are finalized way before the elections...IK was well prepared this time...at least he claimed.. Are the PTI leadership incompetent or liar....Some one need to stop them.
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Oct 14, 2015 09:42am
They are just wasting nation time,they only wants to win the election,then every things will be ok.
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Oct 14, 2015 09:43am
They have a right to seek true picture and justice. Go ahead PTI!
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Oct 14, 2015 09:48am
Regardless of whom you support, this will further strengthen the electoral process. Thank you PTI.
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Oct 14, 2015 10:00am
Good. Such audits will strengthen democracy in Pakistan.
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Oct 14, 2015 10:02am
@Amin Ansari ...Are you serious...?
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Oct 14, 2015 10:10am
This is true. A lot of families were left shocked when they were told their voting venue has been changed without announcement.
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Oct 14, 2015 10:27am
Fair electoral process would be the fruit the longing fruit of Azadi March.
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Oct 14, 2015 10:33am
Cause defeat in NA-122 stopped the door of PTI for agitation and leading to power by shortcut, PTI is not prepared to accept defeat as if they accepted it, PTI will have to wait till 2018. PTI is not ready to wait till 2018. PTI cannot now allege rigging, 35 puctures, CH. iftikhar involvement etc. A big big loss for PTI in NA-122, its not just defeat for PTI, they are forced to go to back foot.
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Oct 14, 2015 10:36am
PTI was trying to justify its mandate in NA-122 through rented parties like PPP, PAT, PMLQ, SR. Imagine all mafias on one side and PML N on one side. This is biggest win for PMLN. PAT & Co. will fight separately in next elections which speaks of itself that PTI did not fight with its real mandate and loss is very big if you take out PAT & co. votes from final results. A big defeat to Mafias who create trouble for Pakistan. People of Pakistan have saved Pakistan. Frustrating, how corrupts to reach to power join hands and PTI has no regrets over it, because its ideology against corrupts does not work when it comes to power grabbing. Such a massive let down for KPK people as well. PML N going high and handsome.!!
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Oct 14, 2015 10:39am
Please PTI, can you give slightest of attention to KPK? We are left strangled with no jobs and no developments., You promised us good jobs, infrastructures etc. where are those? Police is involved in assaulting young in Jails, where are your claims of good police system?
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Oct 14, 2015 10:45am
Oh Wow ! Since we lost let's cook up something new !
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Oct 14, 2015 11:06am
I am not for any party. However, it is essential for all Pakistani to have their vote counted fairly. It is PTI right to check everything and the ECP responsibity is to satisfy fair election. It is time to move on but make sure next elections are fair.
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Oct 14, 2015 11:10am
Ayaz Sadiq should give this seat to PTI now. If PTI intends to clean up the electoral process, they should do these negotiations with ECP and in Parliament, not malign an elected representative.
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Oct 14, 2015 11:15am
So IK will spend the next 2.5 years cleansing the electoral process. Meanwhile PML-N will build trains, roads and energy projects. Come 2018, we will have a transparent electoral system yet PML-N will have a healthy report card based on its performance in Punjab, and IK's KPK score card will be zero. No prize for guessing who will win the election hands-down!
Remember, a neutral umpire does not benefit your team if you are not putting enough runs on the board. Depending entirely on neutral umpires and not scoring runs yourselves will make you lose the match.
IK, for goodness sake, get your priorities right! You have made your point. Now go FULL-THROTTLE into turning KPK into a success story that you can sell to people in 2018.
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Oct 14, 2015 11:16am
Good, all forms of rigging must be prevented for future fair elections.
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Oct 14, 2015 11:20am
Pakistan is lead by corrupt politicians and nation is further also mindless and corrupt
no election was ever fair. There was many issues and concern in the recent election and in fact he results show foul play.
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Oct 14, 2015 11:21am
This is good for pakistan, change to the old system will only come if challanged.
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Oct 14, 2015 11:27am
PPP made several major constitutional reforms, including the 18th amendment. That cleansed the system of all irregularities introduced by successive martial laws. More importantly, PPP gave provinces unprecedented autonomy. Last but not least, PPP presided over a peaceful transition to another democratic set up. All these were massive reforms by any global standard.
How many seats did PPP win in 2013?
If institutional reforms were enough to buy votes, PPP would have won 2013 by a two-thirds majority.
Reforms are important, but equally, if not more, important is governance. IK, if you go into 2018 elections selling ONLY your electoral reforms, you will meet the same fate as PPP did in 2013.
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Oct 14, 2015 12:30pm
They should go to the parliment and address these issues since a parliamentary committee is already working on it for the last 6 months and PTI has just been doing politics for gaining support by taking different narratives every day. The dhandli concept has already been proved wrong and it is amazing how they would talk about this vote transfer issue in NA 122 and not talk about PPP 147 as if this issue was not there where they won.The demographics change with time over the years and it is very natural so why make such a big fuss
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Oct 14, 2015 12:44pm
The NA-122 election was make or break for PTI and life & death for PML(N). They deployed all the tactics to win it. I am sure the matter will not be resolved ASAP and after few months they will call it a "system error" or something like this.
It is shameful that after 2 and a half years, the so called election reforms are still in progress. If the govt was serious then they would have done the election reform in the first 6 months and applied the same in the subsequent by elections or local bodies. The PMN(N) used delaying tactics from the beginning because they know that any reform will not turn in their favor.
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Oct 14, 2015 12:48pm
Strange, PTI should have requested the list of voters BEFORE the election. What a way to run an election campaign.
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Oct 14, 2015 01:05pm
Come on PTI, don'n wast energy of yours and nation in secondary matters, play your productive role in assembly, nation expect that from you.
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Oct 14, 2015 01:09pm
Well done for making hard effort to scrutinize the process, that's what it used to happen people used to favour some body in polls and somebody else use to win the elections.
Hats off.
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Oct 14, 2015 01:11pm
@NADEEM KHAN it is ECP responsibility to correct every thing and answer the questions if raised by any party involved.
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Oct 14, 2015 01:27pm
I have an idea. Since Imran Khan's main agenda for this country is to clean up the election process, let's make him the Chief Election Commissioner. The rest of us are interested in other issues like poverty, child abuse (I have not heard any comments from IK on abuse of children in KP jails), energy, growth, health, education, etc. In my opinion, this election rigging business is a great "truck ki bati" to distract public's attention from real problems faced in this society. However, typical of cult politics, PTI supports seem to lap it up with relish. Sad really.
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Oct 14, 2015 01:45pm
@ Nadeem Khan what exactly is bothering you. you don't sit in the ECP or NADRA. you were not asked to count or for that matter recount. So chill ! If that assures PTI that it was a free and fair election. Let it be. Just let the ECP finish it at the earliest, so that the matter is closed once and for all.
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Oct 14, 2015 01:49pm
So what about PP-147's result that falls within NA-122. Wasn't that election rigged too as it was organized by the same ECP and had the same electoral lists. So why do they complain regarding this particular result and not it's provincial counterpart
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Oct 14, 2015 02:04pm
Voter list are published long time before elections and are used on polling day by all political parties to help their voters find their polling stations......was pti sleeping....they should have had these
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Oct 14, 2015 02:34pm
Power hungry with no other agenda on the table, PTI lost everything. They should just home.
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Oct 14, 2015 02:38pm
I think the PTI has made a great point in raising the issues around 'stolen votes'.
However, having had the by-election after challenging it first time, and having lost with a lower margin is a moral victory for the PTI. This was claimed by Ch Sarwar himself.
To challenge the by-poll again (and again) will just lead to further chaos and instability, and more money spent on elections and so on.
Fact is the PTI cannot topple the PMLN out of government; only the Army can do that.
So why not just work hard over the next 2 years and try and win the 2018 elections.
Surely, that would be a better strategy - instead of continuously asking voters to come out and vote.
Sooner or later, people will get voter apathy.
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Oct 14, 2015 02:52pm
@NADEEM KHAN They are entitled to act only after receiving the complaints.
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Oct 14, 2015 02:53pm
@YOUSUF HUSSAIN Where are they wasting your time? They have asked ECP which in entitled to fulfill the demands. Are they blocking roads or called for a shutter down strike?
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Oct 14, 2015 02:59pm
@Sameer: "They should go to the parliment and address these issues since a parliamentary committee is already working on it for the last 6 months ..."
ECP is a federal body and their main task is to overlook the electioneering process.
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Oct 14, 2015 03:01pm
@Sameer Moreover, if loosing candidate/party in any constituency has any complaints against PTI then they should also go to concerned authorities. As in case of Lodhran constituency where Jehangir Tareen of PTI declared winner but the loosing PML-N candidate challenged the decision in courts.
Better get your facts straight before writing comments.
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Oct 14, 2015 03:10pm
This is getting too much of finding non-existent negativity for nothing constructive!
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Oct 14, 2015 04:59pm
Well done PTI, we stand by you in this struggle. This is how pmln has been getting 'true mandate'...
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Oct 14, 2015 06:28pm
If votes were transferred without following procedure the officials involved must be punished severely so that no one dares to follow the ruling party rather than rules
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Oct 14, 2015 06:44pm
I believe ECP should cooperate if they have nothing to hide and put this rigging saga a thing of the past.
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Oct 14, 2015 06:48pm
I thing pti is right to ask for full transperancy. I always wanted my vote to count albeit its one vote but it matters to me.
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Oct 14, 2015 08:28pm
@NADEEM KHAN they are trying to get the system right. You should be supporting that cause and not criticizing it. It is because of people like you who do not support the correct people at the right time are responsible for the mess that this country finds itself.
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Oct 15, 2015 01:12am
Only 35 different complaints received by ECP and probably two or three cases reported by media for missing voters and they are whipping new emotional drama for thousands of misplaced voters? Okay carry on you will find another 11th October evening with your heads reeling in frenzy of defeat.
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Oct 15, 2015 03:25am
@haris THEY did all of it last time. Didn't they ?
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