BAHAWALNAGAR: After a peaceful polling across the district on Feb 8, tensions erupted in various areas late on Thursday when returning officers (ROs) withheld the results of constituencies where PTI candidates started beating the old heavyweights of the PML-N and Zia League by huge margins.

Constituencies where results have been withheld include NA-161, NA-163, PP-239, and PP-240.

Although PTI-supported Shahid Amin Akoka was being dubbed a weak contestant against N’s Alam Dad Lalika from NA-161, who had won the last election, however, due to the heavy turnout, there was an upset in the seat. Mr Akoka was winning by a huge margin when the RO withheld the results. The same happened in NA-163, Fort Abbas, where PTI’s Shaukat Basra was ahead of Zia League Chief Ijazul Haq and PML-N’s Tanvirul Hasan.

Another upset field was PP-239, where PML-N’s Mumtaz Maharvi, considered a strong candidate, started caving into PTI’s Atif Matiana. The same pattern was followed in PP-40, where Rana Mohammad Rauf of PML-N, who won three times in a row, started losing the poll to independent candidate Muhammad Sohail Khan. The results were withheld from these two constituencies as well.

Thousands of people, led by candidates, surrounded RO offices and recorded a strong protest against the administration which was ongoing till the filing of this report in some constituencies.

The intense protest of the workers from PP-240 brought about a change, and the results were released on Friday declaring independent candidate Muhammad Sohail Khan winner. According to Form 47, Sohail Khan got 42,094 votes, while PML-N’s Rana Rauf came second with 32,516 votes.

The situation was very tense in NA-163 where thousands of PTI supporters, led by PTI’s Talat Mehmood Basra, surrounded the RO office. The police, Rangers, and other law enforcement agencies have been seen patrolling towards NA-163 where a large demonstration had been staged outside the Fort Abbas RO office.

Overall, the police and other law enforcement agencies did not harass voters in the election process across the district, and PTI candidates also did not file any such complaint. However, at a few polling stations, PML-N workers were given protocol by the authorities. Private persons, inside polling booths, openly encouraged voters to stamp the PML-N’s symbol and there were also reports of free use of mobile phones inside some polling stations, and photos of stamped ballot papers were being uploaded on social media.

Similarly, on reports of rigging at some polling stations, B Division police allegedly prevented journalists from going inside the polling booths for coverage.

Meanwhile, sharing a video clip with Dawn, police sources claimed that in NA-163, Bahawalnagar SP Investigation forcibly took away all the election records including Form 45, computers, and other items from the RO office in the presence of hundreds of people.

In the video clip, it can be clearly seen that, on the instructions of the SP investigation, the staff dressed in uniform and plain clothes were taking away the computers and other records from the RO office.

Bahawalnagar District Police Officer Naseebullah Khan told Dawn that the protesters were constantly giving life threats to the RO, due to which the election process was stopped. He said that on the RO’s written request, the police had temporarily taken all the records into their custody.

DRO/DC Zoulfiqar Ahmad was not available for comment.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2024