KARACHI, Feb 20: Unsuccessful candidates have made an impassioned plea for a recount and repoll in certain city constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies.
This demand was made by runners-up of the unofficial election results in four separate press conferences held at the Karachi Press Club.
“What the role of the administration, the election commission and its staff, Rangers and police on polling day was and how far the elections were fair elsewhere, we are not aware of all this. But in this metropolis the returning officers, police and Rangers did little to prevent vote rigging,” said a speaker.
“Therefore, we demand that consolidated election results not be notified and recounting be ordered or fresh elections held under the supervision of the army after declaring the Feb 18 results null and void,” he said.
Riaz Hussain Lund Baloch, a candidate from NA-257, and Mohammad Rafique Baloch from PS-127, both belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party, told a news conference that there was no writ of the law in 56 polling stations of NA-257 and over 14 polling stations of PS-127 as workers of their opponent candidates held sway. They did not allow their polling agents to enter the polling stations and where they tried, they were beaten up and pushed out to allow MQM activists a free hand to stuff ballot boxes after stamping ballot papers.
Although, they claimed, they drew the attention of the RO and DRO to the anomalies in writing at 11am, asking them to stop rigging, the latter took no notice of the complaints.
Likewise, after the polling time was over, the bags of ballot papers of PS-88 were taken elsewhere rather than to the RO, only to be deposited the next day at 7.40am. The unofficial results were announced at 9.30am.
They said despite a poor turnout in the 56 polling stations located in the two-and-half UCs’ limits, over 100,000 votes were shown in favour of the MQM candidate, which was impossible and a clear proof of rigging.
Rejecting the results of the 56 polling stations of NA-257 and 14 polling stations of PS-127, they demanded the registration of an FIR against RO Arshad Murtaza for changing the results, and re-polling in the above constituencies.
‘Murder attempts’
Habib Jan, PPP candidate from PS-110, who was accompanied by Haji Abdul Aziz Memon, brother of Abdul Habib Memon, PPP candidate from NA-249, and PPP leader Waqar Mehdi claimed that two attempts had been made on his life in the last 48 hours after the elections.
He said: “I make the press witness that if anything happens to me, Altaf Husain, Dr Farooq Sattar and Shoaib Ibrahim will be responsible for it.”
Claiming that he had submitted an application to the RO and the EC for withholding the results of the constituency, he recounted details of the alleged rigging. From PS-65 in the Eidgah Maternity Home their polling agents from male and female booths were thrown out at 9.30am. Hearing this, they said, when they reached the spot they found a few people rushing out while the presiding officer was found folding many ballot papers. Meanwhile, his worker, Khalid Hussain, who was guarding the car, was allegedly kidnapped by MQM men and when he came out of the polling station, he found himself in the midst of firing. Later he and his colleagues were rescued by Rangers.
He said in his constituency over 12 polling stations were at the mercy of “terrorists” and their polling agents were compelled to flee the police stations of Unique School, NJV School, YWCA, Kotwal Building, Gazdarabad, Pankha Lane, Narainpura, Karachi College, Urdu Arts College, CMS School, Okhai Memobn School, Sheldon School, Islamia School No 2 and other polling stations.
“We repeatedly informed Colonel Fawad and Major Yasin of Rangers, as well as the control room, but our complaints were not heeded to. There were no army troops to be seen anywhere in the constituency.”
“The pace of polling on almost all polling stations was very slow till 4.30pm. No more than 150 to 200 or 350 votes had been cast, but later in half an hour how such a large number of votes were cast that Farooq Sattar got over 100,000 votes? What work the MQM had done that in the constituency where MQM votes never crossed the figure of 35,000, bagged that many this time?”
‘Results rejected’
Irfanullah Khan Marwat, an independent candidate from PS-114, speaking at a press conference claimed that as there was massive rigging at six polling stations in the Mehmoodabad Green Belt and Azam Basti, he and residents of his constituency had rejected the results of the constituency.
Demanding re-election in Karachi under army supervision, he said because of the mismanagement of the EC not only the returning officer was replaced, but the polling scheme was also altered only five days before the elections.
“Voters were running from pillar to post to find the booths where they had to cast their ballots,” he said, adding that education department staff and KESC employees were posted as polling staff in his constituency. “This was against the rules as the education department was headed by a minister whose wife, Khushbakht Shujaat, was contesting on an MQM ticket,” he said.
“On polling day, 50 per cent of polling staff did not turn up and though I had drawn the attention of the RO, DRO and the provincial election commissioner to it, the staff did not reach there till the end of polling time.”
He said the voters list which was provided to him for the Akram Shaheed School, Akhtar Colony, polling station was short of 1,100 voters and despite his protest to the EC provincial commissioner, it was not given to him. He said at one of the polling stations of Manzoor Colony only about 100 votes were cast till 3.30pm but 1,500 votes were shown to have been cast in the last one hour.
He said that in the last hour his polling agents were expelled from the six polling stations and they were not given the signed result copy till 2.30am.
He said RO Irfan Siddiqui had refused to hand over signed result copies of each polling station separately and was also not willing for a recount of the votes of the six polling stations as the candidate wanted to check the ID card numbers on the ballot papers and the thumbs impressions of the voters on its counter folio.
Mr Marwat, who is a former minister of the Arbab government, said in the 2002 elections the MQM had bagged 11,000 votes while he had won the seat with 12,500 votes. This time when he had the support of the ANP, PPP and the Sunni Tehreek, he could not cross the 22,000 vote mark while the MQM candidate was shown to have secured 23,000 votes.
Pointing out that in the voters list in one house of 80 square yards in Kashmir Colony, 72 votes were registered. And there were many discrepancies in which one voter with the same ID card number and father’s name was written at many places.
Terming rigging a conspiracy to vitiate the atmosphere of Karachi, Mr Marwat said that for it the administration, the MQM leadership and the Election Commission would be held responsible.
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