MUZAFFARABAD: A controversy emerged on Wednesday after the returning officer (RO) issued Form 27 declaring PPP’s Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, the sitting AJK prime minister, the winner from LA-17 (Haveli), despite rival PML-N candidate Engineer Mohsin Aziz being assured that the form would not be issued until the Election Commission took up his complaint.

The development triggered fresh tensions in Haveli district, where PML-N workers announced a complete shutter-down strike and protest from Thursday (August 13) for an indefinite period.

At a meeting in Forward Kahuta, chaired by PML-N Haveli president Syed Abid Bukhari, participants demanded that the Election Commission open all polling bags from LA-17, order a recount and determine the result on the basis of the original results issued by presiding officers at the polling stations.

They warned that the scope of the protest would be expanded if the demand was not accepted.

Polling in the constituency had been held on Monday amid serious allegations and counter-allegations of rigging by all three major contestants — PM Rathore of PPP, PML-N’s Aziz and independent candidate Khawaja Tariq Saeed.

Late on Monday evening, thousands of Aziz’s supporters gathered at the district courts, claiming that the results provided to polling agents by presiding officers on Form 24 showed their candidate leading Rathore by more than 8,000 votes, but that the RO was subsequently preparing the result in favour of the prime minister.

There were also reports of some people being injured during the demonstration.

The protest ended on Tuesday after Aziz said in a video message that the RO had given him a written undertaking that Form 27 would not be issued until the Election Commission in Muzaffarabad decided his claim.

On Tuesday, Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal had told Dawn that the Commission would take a decision after the polling bags and relevant election records reached its office. He had reportedly given a similar assurance to Aziz over the phone.

The DRO, Waheed Mughal, and RO, Asheer Chughtai, both members of the subordinate judiciary, were evacuated from their offices in Forward Kahuta along with the polling bags with the help of the army’s Quick Response Force (QRF). They reached Muzaffarabad by midnight.

However, the RO subsequently issued Form 27 after midnight, dated August 11, declaring Rathore the winner with 33,872 votes. Aziz secured 32,354 votes, followed by Saeed with 12,538 and IPP candidate Amir Nazir Chaudhry with 5,405.

Hours later, PM Rathore said on X that his “remarkable victory had been officially notified”.

“LA-17 has spoken. I thank the people of Haveli and again pledge to serve them now and forever. I’m grateful to my party leadership, specially, Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Adi Faryal Talpur, for their trust, guidance and unending support amid every challenge we have faced,” he wrote.

The issuance of Form 27, however, failed to settle the dispute, with reports from Haveli suggesting that tensions were rising again.

In a video message recorded in Muzaffarabad, Aziz reiterated his allegation that the Form 24s handed to polling agents of all nine participating candidates contained the genuine results, while different figures were subsequently taken into consideration by the RO.

He offered to have just two polling bags, rather than all of them, opened from areas where he alleged the results had been changed. If his allegation proved to be wrong, he said, he would apologise and congratulate Rathore.

“If Faisal Rathore has won, why is he afraid of opening of polling bags and a subsequent recount?” he asked.

Aziz also claimed that the Election Act, 2020, made it obligatory for the RO to open polling bags following a complaint by any candidate. He said that when they asked Chughtai to take the step, the RO maintained that he was unaware of the provision and did not have a copy of the Act with him.

On Wednesday, senior lawyers Raja Sajjad Ahmed and Chaudhry Ghulam Nabi submitted an application to the chief election commissioner, seeking a recount of votes polled in LA-17 over alleged tampering with the results.

The Election Commission announced that it would take up the matter at 10am on Thursday.

In a post on X, PML-N leader and federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry called for a transparent investigation into the rigging complaint filed by Aziz, saying he hoped the Election Commission would address the allegations regarding the Haveli constituency on merit.

Aziz, however, said he had little hope from the commission after what he described as its failure to prevent the issuance of the “unlawful Form 27”.

“I will take my case to the people’s court apart from the superior judiciary,” he said.

Meanwhile, Saeed also alleged tampering with his results and called for a recount. He claimed that he had won at nine polling stations, but the votes secured by him there had not been included in his tally and had instead been added to that of Rathore.

PPP calls polls ‘rigged and violent’

Against this backdrop, the PPP also criticised the conduct of the AJK elections, with a high-level meeting of the party in Islamabad describing the polls as “rigged and violent” and expressing serious concern over the role of the AJK Election Commission.

The meeting, chaired by PPP Women’s Wing president and AJK affairs in-charge Faryal Talpur, also criticised the phase-wise conduct of the elections and demanded the immediate completion of polling in the remaining two districts of the third phase and seven constituencies of Poonch so that the Legislative Assembly could be fully constituted.

The participants raised questions over the suspension of internet services, shortages of polling material and staff at some polling stations, and alleged inadequate security arrangements.

Talpur said the PPP was the representative party of the people of AJK and had continued to enjoy strong public support despite challenging circumstances.

On the other hand, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said the PML-N had secured a clear lead in the elections and would have 24 general seats, with another six reserved seats, taking its strength to 30.

In his post on X, he said the AJK Assembly session would be convened next week for the swearing-in of members and election of reserved seats, followed by elections for the speaker and prime minister.

Chaudhry described the elections as free, fair and credible, saying there had been “zero tolerance” for misconduct or rigging. He cited the arrest of a candidate in LA-6 (Mirpur) for taking away a ballot box from a polling station as an example of action against electoral misconduct.