ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz has won both the Attock and Tharparkar seats of the National Assembly by a heavy margin, according to unofficial results.
According to Attock District Nazim Maj (retd) Tahir Sadiq, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) candidate defeated Dr Sikandar Hayat of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) by a margin of 46,059 votes. The district Nazim told the media that Mr Aziz had secured 75,271 votes against 29,212 polled by Dr Sikandar Hayat.
When the district Nazim announced the complete result of all the 253 polling stations of Attock, the Election Commission had declared unofficial results of only 140 polling stations.
Till going to the press, the Election Commission had declared the unofficial results of 200 polling stations of Attock with Mr Aziz having bagged 54,060 votes and Dr Sikandar Hayat 21,934 votes.
According to unofficial results of 157 polling stations of Tharparkar, Mr Aziz was leading by a heavy margin of over 96,000 votes. Dr Mahesh Mallani of the ARD bagged only 9,100 votes against 105,217 polled by Mr Aziz.
There were conflicting reports about the turnout in both the constituencies. The Attock Nazim claimed 46 per cent turnout while the ARD said it was not more than 20 per cent. Independent sources also claimed the turnout was not over 30 per cent.
Similarly, in Tharparkar, Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim claimed that the turnout was over 60 per cent and this claim was challenged by PPP Senator Raza Rabbani who declared the turnout of only up to 15 per cent.
Meanwhile, talking to a group of reporters at his residence in Islamabad, Mr Aziz said the people had rejected the negative politics of the opposition parties. He said the opposition had been making allegations of rigging from day one.
He said the opposition parties had no programme and the people had voted for a party which had a solid programme for their welfare. The finance minister said that by casting votes in a large number, the people had actually acknowledged the improvement in the country's economy.
He vowed to continue to work for poverty alleviation and elimination of backwardness. Mr Aziz also said that he would try to take the opposition along and remove differences. On the other hand, the opposition parties alleged massive riggings in the by-polls in both the constituencies.
YAQOOB MALIK ADDS FROM ATTOCK: Polling in the NA-59 Attock-III constituency was peaceful throughout the day and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the constituency.
A large number of police personnel and Rangers personnel remained outside the polling stations to maintain law and order. There was no rush at the polling stations, particularly in rural areas, while some enthusiasm was seen in tehsil Hasanabdal.
There were no queues of voters at the polling stations while most of the polling stations for women wore a deserted look. From various polling stations in Jabi, Fatehjang, Bahtar, Hasanabdal and Burhan, no complaint of any rigging or interference was reported by the polling agents of both the parties and voters.
PPP secretary general Raja Pervez Ashraf, MNA Naheed Khan, Khalid Ahmed Kharal, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Malik Hakmeen Khan remained active throughout the day and visited various polling stations.
The PPP leaders alleged that their voters and polling agents had been harassed by PML activists in various areas. They said the matter had been reported to the district police officer and the returning officer.
District Nazim Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq alleged that some PPP leaders, including Raja Pervez Ashraf and Naheed Khan, had tried to disturb the polling process at a polling station in Fatehjang.
M.H. Khan adds from Mitthi: Amid widespread security blanket all over Tharparkar, polling in the NA-229 by-elections were held generally smoothly, though there were a few cases of altercations between supporters and polling agents of the rival candidates.
By and large the polling was violence-free in the massive desert constituency where women wearing colourful attires and bangles like the dancing girl of Moenjodaro travel miles away in search of water.
According to reports there was a higher voter turnout in the constituency where the ruling party candidate had promised to provide potable water, better healthcare, jobs and education, most of which have been lacking in the area for the past 57 years.
Some cases of disturbances were reported from polling stations following objections raised by polling agents of PPP's Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani. In one such case, the PPP MPA from Thatta, Sassui Palijo, was detained for six hours under written orders of the Returning Officer of NA-229 Ghulam Mehdi Sangi. Later Ms Palijo accused the RO of using filthy language against her and her party leadership.
Polling agents of the PPP candidate were missing from various polling stations and the opposition accused the government of foul play. After visiting Islamkot, Sindh PPP Parliamentarians chief Nisar Khuhro pointed out anomaly in voters' list at PS-192 in Barach at the outskirts of Mitthi. At this PS, out of 538 votes, 298 votes had been polled by 10.20am.
In fact, the voters' list did not contain NIC numbers of all the voters of the area which became a cause of concern for Mr Khuhro. He asked polling agents to challenge all the voters whose NIC numbers were not enrolled in lists.
He told presiding officers (POs) not to allow voters whose NICs did not tally with the lists. The presiding officers told him that they had been directed by the Election Commission to allow either original computerized NICs or the old NICs for voting. They said that they had got nothing to do with the voters' list prepared by the EC.
The turnout in area remained as high as 50 to 70 per cent. At the Allah Bachayo Kumbhar male polling station (No 198) in Chelhar, out of 1,859 votes, 1,723 votes were polled by 2.15pm.
Likewise, in Kaloi at the female PS-64 out of 1,058 registered votes, 700 votes were cast by 1.30pm. By 9.20am in Malanhore village, 112 votes were polled out of 1,200 registered votes, at combined PS-181. In Islamkot 320 votes were polled out of 969 registered votes by 10.55am.
PPP Parliamentarians MPA from Hyderabad Zahid Bhurgari while talking to Dawn in Islamkot complained of direct interference of Taluka Nazim Mitthi, Faqir Sher Muhammad Bilalani.
There were similar reports from other polling stations where the PPP agents accused the ruling party agents of using strong- arm and threatening tactics. Sindh minister Pappu Shah was accused of directing police not to create any hurdles for Arbabs' supporters.
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