RAWALPINDI: PPP, PML-N and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in Rawalpindi have objected to voter turnout in NA-62 and alleged that Awami Muslim League (AML) President Sheikh Rashid Ahmed rigged the election.

PPP’s candidate in NA-62 Sumaira Gul told Dawn it was strange that Rawalpindi city recorded 82pc voter turnout even though turnout across the country was not higher than 50pc.

“Invisible people cast their votes in ballot boxes and all went in favour of Sheikh Rashid. The PML-N received 90,000 votes in the city and lost and the PTI-supported candidate was declared the winning candidate by the Election Commission,” she said.

She said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was incapable of conducting free and fair elections in the country.

“I did not receive the result from the polling stations because the presiding officers did not give the result to the polling agent until July 26,” she said.

Instead, she said, she received information through television and other sources. Ms Gul said she had registered a complaint with the PPP central office, where all evidence would be compiled jointly.

Local PML-N leaders cry ‘rigging’

During a press conference on Thursday PML-N leader Chaudhry Tanveer Khan declared the election rigged and said votes for the opposing, PTI-supported candidate had increased after midnight.

“Barrister Daniyal Chaudhry got 91,000 votes while 3,000 votes were rejected and the remaining registered voters are more than 60,000. But Sheikh Rashid got more than 120,000 votes, which means all the votes polled in the election,” he claimed.

He said the ECP did not provide the results until noon on Thursday.

“Our polling agents were not given the proper information of results while others were provided all the information and results within time,” he said.

The PML-N candidate in NA-62, Daniyal Chaudhry, said the PML-N would not criticise those who were invisible.

“Our polling agents were kicked out of polling stations before the preparation of results. We were not given a single Form 45 from more than 300 polling stations,” he said.

PML-N’s Malik Shakil Awan said the party would protest against the ECP’s failure to conduct fair and transparent elections in the coming days.

“The ECP has a double policy; special treatment for the PTI and a step-motherly attitude towards the PML-N and opponents of the PTI,” he said.

He said the people had rejected the 2018 elections and raised questions about mismanagement by the ECP while wasting billions of rupees on rigged elections.

Separately, MMA Rawalpindi chapter emir Shamsur Rehman Swati also said the ECP had failed to fulfil its constitutional duty to conduct free and fair elections.

“The holding of results in many constituencies made the polling process doubtful,” he said.

“In many constituencies of Rawalpindi and other areas, the ECP failed to provide MMA polling agents the results. It is the responsibility of the caretaker government and other institutions to ensure a transparent electoral process, but they failed to do so,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2018