BAHAWALPUR: A large number of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists and office-bearers on Friday night staged a protest for hours against what they called “manipulation and tampering with” the election results in Bahawalpur district.

The protesters, who gathered at DC Chowk in the city after midnight on the call of the party candidates, who were declared defeated against their rival PML-N candidates in NA-168, PP-253 and PP-254 (Bahawalpur city), continued sloganeering till dawn.

They reassembled on the same spot after Juma prayers and staged a sit-in, which continued till the filing of this report.

Addressing the media persons,the PTI nominees Samiullah Chaudhry (NA-168), Asghar Joiya and Ahmed Usman Channar, from PP-253 and PP 254 (Bahawalpur city), respectively, said they were declared successful on Friday night on the basis of their results shown on Form-45 issued by the presiding officers concerned, but declared “defeated” in the morning.

They alleged that that the ROs concerned added fake votes to the vote count of their rivals to deprive them of their victory after several hours.

Declaring that “manipulation and rigging” would not be tolerated, the PTI leaders said the protest would continue till the acceptance of their demands.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2024