Shangla police on Monday arrested three suspects, including an official of Pakistan Post, over charges of stealing postal ballots, DawnNewsTV reported.

Police recovered the ballots from a vehicle and arrested the local PML-N leader and his relative who were allegedly trying to steal the postal ballots from the post office in Alpuri, said SHO Sadiq Khan.

“Case has been registered against the accused under Section 169 and 170 of the Election Act, 2017,” the police official said.

A sack containing postal ballots was recovered from the possession of PML-N leader Muhammad Afzal and his cousin Bakht Sher, police said. Moreover, police also arrested Pakistan Post official Bashirullah who was a resident of the area.

The operation to recover the stolen postal ballots was carried out on the complaint of Liaqat Yousafzai, whose brother Shaukat Yousafzai is contesting elections from PK-23 Shangla on PTI’s ticket.

Earlier on Saturday, Sehwan police arrested five officials of the education department for tampering with postal ballots in PS-80 (Jamshoro) — former Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s constituency.

Shah — already tipped by the PPP leadership as the future chief minister — is facing Sindh United Party’s (SUP) president, Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah, in the upcoming election.

According to police, SUP activists had caught four education department officials tampering with postal ballots that are meant for government employees on official duty during elections.

Besides, additional district coordinator for the national programme, Shama Gulani and four other government employees, Khalid Zahoor Baig, Arbab Zadi, Kalsoom and Jamna, were arrested on Sunday after they were booked on the allegations of marking postal ballots in favour of a Pakistan Peoples Party candidate.