QUETTA: Mir Mohammad Usman Badani of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) has won the NA-260 by- election by bagging 44,610 votes.

According to unofficial results gathered in the provincial election commission here on Sunday, his nearest rival in Saturday’s contest Mir Bahadur Khan Mengal of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) obtained 37,481 votes.

Jamal Khan Tarakai of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) got 20,485 votes. Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the PkMAP had won the NA-260 seat in the 2013 general elections.

PPP workers hold demonstration against ‘rigging’

Mir Mohammad Umair Mohammad Hasni of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) received 19, 840 votes. A newcomer in the PPP, he is the son of PPP Senator Fateh Mohammad Hasni.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s candidate Dr Munir Baloch obtained only 2,825 votes.

The JUI-F was enjoying the National Party’s support, while the BNP-M was backed by the Hazara Democratic Party, Awami National Party and BNP-Awami.

According to the Provincial Election Commission, the turnout in the by-election was 29 per cent as 133,477 voters — 86,874 male and 46,603 female — cast their votes, while 3,788 votes were rejected. As many as 460,000 people were registered in the constituency.

Provincial Election Commissioner Mohammad Naeem Majeed Jaffar rejected allegations of rigging by the PPP. “Such allegations from political parties are raised after every election,” he said. “We are clear and continue to perform our duty honestly.”

Earlier, the PPP staged a demonstrated in front of the Provincial Election Commission office, alleging that the election was rigged.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans, the party workers burnt tyers.

Addressing a press conference, PPP’s provincial president Ali Madad Jattak and chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Railways Fateh Mohammad Hasni claimed that 30,000 bogus votes had been polled in the by-election.

They appealed to the chief election commissioner and the chief justice of Pakistan to stop announcement of results until the ballot papers used in the polling were investigated in front of the international media. “The PPP candidate was defeated through a plot and after consultation with the party leadership and tribal elders we will launch a protest in Quetta, Chagai and Noshki districts,” Senator Hasni said.

He claimed that a large number of his party’s voters were not allowed to cast their votes in Noshki, Dalbandin and other areas.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2017