PESHAWAR: Accusing the Election Commission of Pakistan of failing to hold free and fair elections on July 25, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Peshawar leaders have demanded fresh polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said they would continue agitate against the unfair election results.

MMA Peshawar president and NA-28 candidate Sabir Hussain Awan told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday that the entire electoral exercise of July 25 was a fraud as the police and military personnel expelled polling agents of nominees of different political parties from polling stations at the time of vote count.

Accompanied by JUI-F leaders Maulana Khairul Bashar and Qari Mohammad Asif, MMA leader Haji Ghulam Ali and others, Mr Awan alleged that the district returning officers and returning officers in the province were biased against the MMA nominees and that they manipulated election results and didn’t provide Form-45 carrying those results to candidates on time.

MMA leader Haji Ghulam Ali alleged that 2018 elections were manipulated to favour the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

He alleged that the security personnel deployed at polling stations had connived with the Election Commission of Pakistan to rig elections and thus, prompting the people to question its fairness and credibility.

Mr Ali alleged that MMA leaders Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Sirajul Haq and other leaders of political parties were kept out of the National Assembly under a conspiracy.

He said the rigged elections were unacceptable to the MMA, which would continue to agitate until fresh elections were held in the province.

The MMA leader said the ECP didn’t accept the vote recount request of the alliance nominees in many constituencies, especially in Malakand division, and therefore, the religious parties were to hold rallies to claim that right.

He said the rejection of vote recount pleas turned entire electoral exercise fishy.

Mr Ali said the representatives of all likeminded parties would meet the Al-Markaz Islami in Peshawar on August 6 to finalise future course of action over election rigging.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2018