LAHORE: Police claimed to have arrested a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) worker and recovered around 200 identity cards from his possession in Factory Area on Saturday.

Police said Khalid Sindhu was planning to buy votes in PP-168 and a case was also registered against him. Police claimed that the suspect was giving Rs2,000 to 3,000 to every ID card holder of the constituency PP-168. The suspect was buying votes to support his party in by-elections, they added.

Police arrested the suspect and also recovered 200 ID cards besides getting information about the WhatsApp chat of Khalid Sindhu with former minister Farrukh Habib and PTI PP-168 candidate Nawaz Awan. Habib also shared his location to meet Sindhu who sent the ID cards’ pictures to him.

PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz condemned the action of the PTI worker and tweeted that rigging is in the DNA of PTI workers. The PTI workers invented a new way of rigging when they failed to steal election bags and buy ECP officials. She further tweeted that PTI workers knew that they could not win election without rigging in the past and also could not win current elections. She said it’s election, not selection.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2022