KARACHI, Oct 12: Election results are not only being questioned by the losers but also by those who have unexpectedly won.

While the People’s Party Parliamentarians has called the results in many places a farce, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has questioned the gains made by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in Karachi.

The MMA rejected the results of NA-255 where Mahmood Qureshi of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement has been unofficially declared the winner.

Supporters of the MMA candidate, Mohammed Aslam Mujahid, who staged a demonstration outside Karachi Press Club on Saturday, alleged that the results had been doctored.

They claimed that their candidate was leading by a handsome margin in the afternoon and the same was announced on the electronic media. But under the influence of security agencies the result had been changed and the Haqiqi’s candidate was declared the winner.

They alleged that ghost polling stations were set up in Landhi on the election day where ballot boxes were stuffed with thousands of bogus votes. When the MMA agents protested, they were chased away and “polling” at such stations continued several hours after the cutaway time. Neither thumb impressions were put on the counterfoil nor they were signed.

They demanded of the Chief Election Commissioner to take notice of the alleged bungling and order fresh scrutiny of every polling station in the constituency.

The PPP Parliamentarians at a news conference also made similar allegations with regard to many constituencies in the interior of Sindh, where it claimed that its workers and polling agents were tortured and harassed in many areas by regime-backed candidates who enjoyed the patronage of official agencies.

PPP information secretary Taj Haider accused the government of “naked and massive bungling at an unprecedented level.”

He alleged that wherever the PML (Q) had won, the turnout had been shown as very high.

He said at some places not only were polling agents terrorized and forced to flee, but in some areas” hooligans enjoying official patronage” did not allow vehicles to bring back the trapped and harassed women polling agents.

He claimed that the delay in the announcement of results was part of the manipulation.

Riaz Jamali, the PPP candidate from PS-23, who was also present, alleged that police had wrongly implicated his uncle and the chief polling agent on charges of terrorism.

He alleged that Nazim Masroor Jatoi allegedly interfered with the polling at Qamaruddin Chandio polling station. “The polling station was closed and my polling agents were forcibly taken to an unknown place. The DSP entered the polling station, and upon my arrival at the polling station, he arrested me and kept me in a police mobile for two hours: 14:30 to 16:30 hours. The polling station was closed for five hours, yet 1,900 ballots were found in the ballot boxes. The relieving polling agent was also kidnapped in full glare of the public,” he said.

He alleged that the officer concerned, against whom several cases were still pending, was transferred to the area 20 days before the elections in total disregard of the Chief Election Commissioner’s instructions. He also claimed that the area SHO also fired at him.

The PPP has decided to challenge the alleged irregularities in the elections in law courts and has advised its candidates, who faced such problems, to contact the party’s legal cell for preparing petitions.

The PPP has demanded of the Election Commission to order re-election in NA-102 constituency and the provincial assembly constituencies falling in this NA constituency, claiming that massive rigging was carried out in the constituencies as the party candidates were clearly leading in all of them and the results were manipulated overnight, PPI adds.

At a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Saturday, PPP information secretary Taj Haider alleged that announcement of results by the EC after more than 10 hours, instead of the normal practice of 4-5 hours, had caused doubts as by extending the duration government functionaries influenced results in more than 100 constituencies, depriving the party of a clear majority.

Talking about causes of the low turnout of voters which stood at 30-33 per cent, he claimed that the confidence of the people in the election process had been shaken.

“In Lyari, a traditional seat of the PPP, the party managed to secure only 23pc of the total votes, while Ejazul Haq of the PML (Z) secured more than 60pc votes from a new NA constituency in Bhawalnagar, Punjab. This shows the level of rigging resorted to by the government,” he added.

Riaz Jamali, the PPP candidate from PS-23, who was present at the press conference, claimed “rigging of elections by Farhad Zaman Jatoi, the candidate of the National Alliance, whose uncle is Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, a former caretaker prime minister.”

MMA leader Aslam Mujahid has accused the authorities of manipulating the results of NA-255 from where Mehmood Qureshi of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement has been declared the winner.

According to a press release, Mr Mujahid claimed that the total of all results gathered from the polling stations in the constituency, signed by the presiding officers, was more than 32,400 votes, whereas the returning officer has declared Mehmood Qureshi, who secured a little more than 31,000 votes, the winner.

He further said upon query by his partymen the returning officer informed them that he had got about 27,800 votes.