GUJRAT: Dozens of the workers of the PTI have been booked by Kharian and Sara-i-Alamgir police in two different cases of blocking the GT Road during protests against the alleged rigging in the election.

Eighty to 100 PTI workers have been booked by Kharian Saddar police for staging a protest in front of the Kharian assistant commissioner office against the result announced by the returning officer of NA-65 (Lalamusa-Dinga).

PTI-backed candidate Wajahat Husnain Shah, his cousin Habeeb Haider Shah of Kulewal Syedan and others are among those booked in the case lodged on the report of Malik Usman Waris, a local police official.

Sara-i-Alamgir City police registered a case against scores of the PTI workers on charge of blocking the road in front of the returning officer’s office.

Gujrat Civil Lines police also booked Ali Ameer Hussain Shah of Kulewal Syedan and his six guards for opening fire and injuring a PTI worker, Furqan Haneef, during a protest demonstration at Kutchery Chowk.

The case had been registered on the report of Zaheeruddin, a friend of the injured man.

NA-62, PP-28 results: PTI-backed independent candidates Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas and Shahid Raza Kotla have been declared winners of NA-62 (Sara-i-Alamgir-Kharian-Kotla) and PP-28 (Kotla) by defeating Abid Raza Kotla and his brother Shabeer Kotla of the PML-N.

According to an unofficial results announced by the returning officers, the PTI nominee secured 97,436 votes against 71,154 of Abid Raza whereas Chaudhary Musa Elahi of the PML-Q took 26,797.

In PP-28, PTI’s Shaid Raza Kotla got 48,271 votes against his brother Shabeer Kotla’s 35,268. Their elder brother Naeem Raza Kotla of the PML-Q obtained 9,659 votes and TLP’s Yair Altaf bagged 10,942 votes.

Out of total 12 seats of Gujrat district, as per the results of the ROs, the PML-Q won two NA and 7 PA seats, PTI won one each NA and PA seat whereas PML N’s Naseer Abbas Sidhu won NA-65.Meanwhile, PML N candidates from NA-63 (Jalalpur Jattan-Tanda) and PP-29 (Tanda), ex-MNA Nawabzada Ghazanfar Ali Gul and ex-MPA Nawabzada Haider Mehdi have demanded the results announced by the returning officers in their constituencies be declared null and void.They termed the `change of results’ an act of “organized crime”.

Speaking at a joint press conference at Kothi Nawab Sahib, Mr Gul said that the candidates did not have any access to the returning officers in their constituencies even two days after the polling completion as results were announced in the absence of candidates. He said they had not yet received any notice for the final consolidation of the results.

He said the door of every legal forum would be knocked at for the sake of justice.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2024