PESHAWAR: The workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) staged a sit-in outside the office of deputy commissioner against alleged rigging of general elections here on Thursday.

A large number of PTI workers, lawmakers and candidates, who have lost polls, walked from Peshawar Press Club to the office of deputy commissioner where they staged a sit-in till evening. Former provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Khan Bangash, PTI Peshawar president and MNA-elect Sher Ali Abrab, Arbab Amir Ayub, Meena Khan and Qasim Ali Shah also attended the sit-in.

Some of the protesters staged a sit-in at the parking lot of the DC office while many others remained on the main Khyber Road. Unlike Wednesday, however, roads were not closed and a lane of Khyber Road remained opened to traffic.

The protesters later peacefully dispersed in the evening.

NDM workers rally to seek notification about their candidates’ election

Speaking on the occasion, Taimur Jhagra said that fictitious results were prepared for one National Assembly and seven provincial assembly seats in the provincial capital.

He said that on the orders of deputy commissioner, who was district returning officer, they were not allowed to enter polling stations during the final tally. He said that all of them had their constituencies’ results, which showed that they were winning with huge margin.

In North Waziristan, protests against alleged tempering of the February 8 poll results continued as National Democratic Movement (NDM) and PTI activists kept the roads closed to traffic on Thursday.

NDM activists demanded issuance of notification about poll results of their candidates for NA-40, PK-103 and PK-104 besides registration of FIR against those, who opened firing on the protesting NDM workers on February 10 that left three persons dead and many injured during a protest outside office of district returning officer.

PTI-backed candidate forNA-40 Aorangzeb Khan said that they obtained stay order from Election Commission of Pakistan and would continue their protest. JUI-F’s Mufti Misbahuddin has been declared winner in NA-40 constituency.

In Bannu, PTI workers continued their protest against alleged poll rigging on the seventh consecutive day on Thursday.

The protesters gathered on Bannu-Miramshah and Bannu-Kohat roads and closed the arteries to vehicular traffic. Students affiliated with Insaf Students Federation also took out a rally in the city to record their protest against alleged tempering with election results in PK-101 and PK-102 constituencies. Schools, colleges and universities remained closed in the city.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024