PESHAWAR, May 12: Election candidates in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) have rejected the poll results, and demanded of the Election Commission of Pakistan to stop the results and probe what they alleged rigging during polling in some areas.
In Bannu, supporters of Pakistan People’s Party candidate for PK-73 Malik Pakhtunyar Khan organised a demonstration and marched to the office of district returning officer, where they staged a sit-in, protesting against what they said rigging and engineering of the results. The main road remained closed to traffic for three hours during the demonstration.
The candidate told the gathering that he was leading the vote count in many polling stations but the results were changed later. He alleged the polling staff with the connivance of his rival candidate Akram Khan Durrani of JUI-F had hijacked the people’s mandate and engineered the results to grab the seat. He alleged the worst kind of rigging took place at some polling stations, while the results of some were changed at the behest of JUI-F candidate.
Similarly, JUI-F candidate for PK-72 Syed Hamid Shah alleged the rival candidate and his supporters rigged the elections and polled bogus votes.
Addressing a press conference at Bannu Press Club, he demanded of the chief election commissioner and the chief justice of Supreme Court to take notice of the rigging and declare the results null and void.
In Timergara, PTI candidate for NA-34 Mohammad Bashir Khan demanded of the ECP not to announce official result of the constituency until recounting of the polled votes.
Speaking at a news conference along with dozens of party workers at the Timergara Press Club, Mohammad Bashir alleged result of the constituency had been changed.He said last night he was leading by more than 3,000 votes but in the morning he was declared as runner up.
He said polling agents of the PTI were forced to leave polling stations at Samar Bagh. He said according to his information majority of the 5,225 rejected votes had been polled to the PTI.
The NA-34 seat was won by the JI candidate Sahibzada Yaqub Khan by getting 46,968 votes while Mohammad Bashir of the PTI bagged 45,503 votes with the difference of 1,465 votes.
In Tank, the supporters of some candidates organised demonstrations to protest against delay in the announcement of results of some polling stations of NA-25, Dera-cum-Tank, falling in the Dera Ismail Khan.
In Charsadda, candidate for NA-36, Mohmand Agency, Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq termed the election a farce and alleged that worst kind of rigging took place during polling in the constituency. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, he alleged the establishment and the polling staff were involved in the rigging to favour his rival candidate. He said the voter lists were missing at several polling stations, while the women voters were forced to vote for the rival candidate.
Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Sunday, candidates belonging to different political parties, who lost elections from NA-36, rejected the results and asked the election commission to order re-election on the seat. They alleged election was not fair. Independent candidate Nisar Mohmand, Shahsawar Mohmand, Rahim Shah, PTI candidate Malik Daud and Jl’s Mohammad Saeed were present.
They blamed officials of political administration and law enforcement agencies for supporting another independent candidate Bilal Rehman by arresting their voters and closing some polling stations.
“Polling staff also openly supported our opponent, asking the people openly to support Bilal Rehman,” They alleged.
They said ballot boxes were taken into custody by law enforcement agencies from the election staff and that voting time was also not extended despite announcement by the election commission.