HYDERABAD: Losing political parties and candidates have reiterated that failure of result transmission system (RTS) of the Election Commission of Pakistan and subsequent delays in announcement of results have thrown doubt on the transparency of just concluded general election.

Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party’s steering committee which met in Hyderabad on Wednesday said the country’s intelligentsia had raised questions over the conduct of elections and claimed election results had been “prepared in advance to ensure Pakistan’s popular leadership was kept out of parliament”.

The party head Dr Qadir Magsi and leaders Jam Fateh Samejo, Dr Soomar Mangrio, Dr Hameed Memon and others termed July 25 polls product of “engineering” and said that people would lose trust in the entire electoral process and democratic institutions because of such engineering.

They said the STP was the only party which opposed political feudal lords in the province and stuck to its nationalist and progressive ethos while participating in electoral process.

Forensic audit of poll result demanded

MIRPURKHAS: Losing candidate of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan for PS-47 Mujibul Haq has rejected final result of his constituency and demanded the ECP and chief justice of Pakistan order an impartial inquiry into his defeat.

Mr Haq said at a press conference here on Wednesday that sudden failure of RTS system had created doubts over election results.

Therefore, election could not be termed fair and transparent without forensic audit of vote’s result, he said.

He boycotted the meeting held for announcing official result of PS-47 and said that ECP had announced that Form 45 would be uploaded on its website over the next four to five days despite the fact that several male and female presiding officers had reported being called to the office of returning officer on July 28 where the officer had them put their thumb impressions and signatures on plain paper.

He said the result announced without Form 45 given to polling agents would remain doubtful. Till 3am he was leading with 17,000 votes according to results of 97 polling stations and PPP candidate Hari Ram Kishori Lal was trailing behind at 13,599 but the result of remaining polling stations was not released during the night, he said.

Jakhrani asks Mirzas to accept people’s verdict

BADIN: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) coordinator Gul Mohammad Jakhrani has advised the Mirzas to read the writing on the wall and accept people’s verdict they had passed against them through their vote.

Mr Jakhrani told reporters here on Wednesday that people of Badin had always voted for PPP and they did it again by rejecting “traitors” of the party.

He outright rejected Dr Fehmida Mirza’s statement that her family was not allowed to canvass freely before election, and said that she and her spouse Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza were touring the entire district from one end to the other accompanied by police protocol.

“Dr Mirza and other candidates of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) continued to use highly objectionable language against rivals as well as top PPP leadership, general public and even the dead, who were universally respected, but nobody stopped them,” he said.

He claimed that Dr Fehmida was rejected by people on both NA-230 and PS-73 as both her rivals PPP’s Haji Rasool Bux Chandio and Taj Mohammad Mallah had secured more votes than her.

“On seeing humiliating defeat, Dr Mirza first misbehaved with returning officers and then tried to seek relief from the court but they miserably failed in their tricks,” he said.

He said that despite Mirzas’ unabated use of foul language PPP leaders asked their workers to remain peaceful.

“I warn Dr Mirza and other GDA leaders to stop taking out their anger on PPP leaders over rejection by people of the district.”

He said the PPP candidates were fully cooperating with officials in the process of vote recount for NA-230 and PS-73 as per orders of Sindh High Court and ECP.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2018