ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s allegations of rigging in by-elections held for eight seats of National Assembly and three seats of provincial assembly, and termed these allegations “baseless” and “ridiculous”.

A spokesman for the ECP said that by-elections had been held according to the voter lists prepared in 2018 (when the PTI won the general election in the country).

Interestingly, the PTI has levelled allegations of rigging despite having won a majority of seats in the by-polls. Of eight National Assembly seats, PTI Chairman Imran Khan was contesting for seven seats while PTI’s Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s daughter Sheharbano was contesting on the PTI’s ticket from Multan.

“The PTI’s allegation of changing votes from relevant constituencies is ridiculous.

How can it be ascertained from the voter lists as to who will cast vote to whom?“ the ECP spokesperson asked.

The spokesperson further said the voter lists had been prepared under a fair and errorless process in which people had been apprised (about registration of votes) at every stage.

“Today’s elections have been held according to the voter lists of 2018 and, therefore, objections on the voter lists is absolutely based on lies and lack of awareness,” the ECP official said.

Bilore served notice

Meanwhile, the ECP has served a notice to Samar Haroon Bilore, a member of provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), for violating election rules and showing her cast vote on social media through her cellphone.

“A notice has been served on Ms Samar Haroon Bilore for violation of secrecy of ballot under section 234 of the Election Act,” the spokesman said.

“That is a clear violation of secrecy of ballot section 178,” the spokesman said.

Ms Samar has been summoned in the office of the ECP’s district monitoring officer, Peshawar, at 11am on Monday.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2022