KARACHI, Oct 23: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Wednesday accused the Election Commission of playing a partisan role and demanded re-polling in the constituencies where irregularities have been reported.

Addressing a news conference, deputy conveners of the MQM coordination committee, Aftab Shaikh, Mrs Nasrin Jalil, Dr Farooq Sattar and Kunwar Khalid Yunus accused the Election Commission of double standards in recounting.

Aftab Shaikh alleged that no relief was given on the various petitions filed by the MQM on Oct 19. Aftab Sheikh spoke of the recounting ordered by the Commission in some Karachi constituencies where, it was alleged, large scale rigging was done under official patronage.

He said the results of Kunwar Khalid Yonus, who had defeated his rival candidate by more than 10,000 votes from constituency NA-245, had been withheld pending enquiry and similar step were taken with regard to MQM candidates in PS 103 and PS118. He said the names of the candidate in 255 had been notified in the gazette, though recounting was taking place.

Deploring the “double standard” by the EC, Mr Shaikh said that the petitions filed by Nasrin Jaleel for NA-250, Firozuddin Rahmani for NA-241, Abrarul Haq for NA-255, Tasneem Hassan Farooqi for PS-91, Mohammad Ali Brohi for PS-90 Afsar Saghir for PS-114, Qudratullah Beg for PS-122, Mohammad Farooq Qureshi for PS-45 and by him for NA-220 had been put in cold storage.

Aftab Sheikh said the position of the Election Commission had become dubious and the government should appoint officials who didn’t indulge in “such practices”.

He also deplored the denial of certain rights, permissible under election laws, to MQM candidates by certain returning officers.

He also alleged that at various places where recounting was ordered, bags were not sealed. From many bags the seals were missing and there were discrepancies in the numbers of ballot papers and their counterfoils.