ISLAMABAD / QUETTA: As JUI-F’s tally of National Assembly seats has increased to four, the party’s central executive committee has advised its leadership not to join the upcoming coalition government.

Sources in the party told Dawn the JUI-F’s top committee is not in favour of becoming a part of the coalition.

The developments have been reported as the two-day CEC meeting chaired by JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman commenced on Tuesday.

According to sources, leaders of the party’s provincial chapters submitted reports regarding the elections and expressed concerns over the results.

They also supported the idea of not joining the coalition government. However, a final decision on this issue will be made today (Wednesday).

The party’s cadre from Balochistan and Sindh even suggested the elected members not to take oaths in protest against what they called “massive rigging and manipulations” in the general election.

In a small media briefing after the first day of the meeting, JUI-F central spokesman Muhammad Aslam Ghori said the party would make a “reasonable decision”, but it had “serious resentments over election results”.

The party’s spokesman added that the CEC will examine every aspect of elections and the new government before making any decision.

JUI-F gets two more seats

The party has managed to secure two more National Assembly seats from Balochistan after its candidates were declared winners following a recount. Its total NA seats now stand at 6.

JUI-F Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Molvi Syed Samiullah were declared winners from NA-261 and NA-251, respectively.

According to the provisional results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan, which were available on its website till late Tuesday night, BNP-Mengal’s Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Pashtoonkhwa National Party’s (PkNAP) Khushal Khan Kakar had won from NA-261 and NA-251, respectively.

The fresh result announced by Nisar Ahmed Chilgari, the returning officer of NA-261 Surab-cum-Kalat-cum-Mastung, Mr Haideri, has been elected after obtaining 31,649 votes while Mr received 27,395 votes.

After initially losing the seat, the JUI-F candidate had claimed that the district returning officer had announced the result without including the votes polled in far-flung areas of Johan Lehri and Nurmak tribal region.

JUI-F’s candidate from NA-251, Molvi Syed Samiullah, has also been declared the winner after adding postal ballots.

According to the new result issued by the returning officer, Faisal Tareen, Mr Samiullah got 46,210 while PkNAP’s Mr Kakar trailed second with 46,117 — a margin of only 93 votes.

JUI-F had already won NA-260 and NA-265 seats from where Mohammad Usman Badini and the party’s emir, Mr Rehman, had been elected, respectively.

Meanwhile, the ECP has withheld the result of NA-253 and PB-9 Kohlu and ordered re-election in seven polling stations after receiving some complaints.

Independent candidate Mian Khan Bugti was elected from NA-253 after defeating Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti

According to an ECP notification, the polling will be held from 8am to 5pm on Feb 16.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2024