KARACHI, May 23: Re-polling will be held on six polling stations in the provincial assembly constituency PS-128 comprising mainly the Quaidabad area on June 1, it was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday.
The announcement comes in the wake of protest demonstrations organised by the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, part of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, on May 13, whose joint candidate Aurangzeb Farooqi contested the seat.
Akbar Saeed Farooqi, the ASWJ spokesperson, earlier told Dawn that polling on those six stations should take place, because voters could not cast their vote due to a bomb blast in the Daud Chowrangi area.
He also added that the polling staff left the area soon after the blast apparently targeting the Awami National Party candidate for the same seat. Eleven people were killed in the blast.
The same day an ASWJ delegation went to the office of the District Returning Officer Bin Yamin in the Malir Court and lodged a complaint.
The ASWJ spokesperson told Dawn that the DRO considered the demand for re-polling on six polling stations as ‘justified’ and gave assurances to them that he would recommend to the election commission in writing to order polling on the said polling stations. The DRO forwarded the complaint to the returning officer, Farzana Iqbal, and she sent it to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Even after the Thursday announcement, the ECP website shows Waqar Hussain Shah of the Muttahida Quami Movement as the winning candidate from PS-128.
Asked about the MQM’s stance over the re-polling on the six polling stations, Kanwar Naveed, member of the ad hoc coordination committee says: “Those six polling stations are quite far from where the blast took place targeting the ANP office. In these polling stations polling occurred smoothly. And when the polling process was over the presiding officers issued Form 13 that has the vote count which we have with us. This vote count report was sent to the Returning Officer. Then Form 16 was issued that has the result and this was sent to the DRO who then sent the report to the ECP. All this means that the DRO was satisfied with the polling process at these six stations.”