PTI rejects Karachi LB election results

• PTI Sindh president said his petition forced ECP to conduct polls
• ECP failed in holding a free, fair, elections in Karachi, he said.
• “Imran Khan rightly described ECP as biased, B-Team of PDM.”

KARACHI: Alleging the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of rigging the local bodies elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday evening said they would not accept the Karachi LB elections results.

Sindh President and former federal minister Syed Ali Haider Zaidi said this in a news conference on Monday at the PTI Sindh Secretariat in Karachi on the Karachi local government election results.

Besides Zaidi, PTI Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar and several PTI candidates contesting Karachi local government elections were present.

The PTI Sindh president pointed out that it was his petition that forced the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to finally conduct the local bodies elections in Karachi and Hyderabad on January 15.

However, he said, the ECP failed in holding a free, fair, and transparent election in Karachi and was directly responsible for the rigging that occurred on Sunday. Throughout the day, several clips of election rigging were shown by the news media.

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“The ECP says the election went peacefully, but it was a “peacefully” rigged election, as PTI is a peaceful and non-violent political party,” he said.

Ali Zaidi said that various Form 11s in PTI’s possession, which are duly signed and fingerprinted by the respective Presiding Officers, indicate that PTI has won 70 UCs throughout Karachi. However, until late Monday afternoon, PTI candidates were not receiving their results from the Returning Officers, he maintained.

The PTI Sindh president insisted that political engineering was occurring between the District Commissioners and Returning Officers behind closed doors to manipulate the results.

Former Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan rightly described the ECP as biased and the B-Team of PDM.  All the news channels showed rigging clips throughout the day but the ECP did nothing to stop it, he said.

Zaidi mentioned that PTI MPAs, Rabistan Khan and Adeel Ahmed were arrested by the police for trying to stop the rigging while Amjad Afridi was beaten up by the police and arrested for terrorism.  Plus, Mr. Zaidi described the Sindh government as thugs and the Sindh Police as facilitators in political victimization.

The PTI Sindh President reminded Foreign Minister Bilawal Zardari of his mother, Benazir Bhutto’s quote on democracy when she was house arrested by the Musharraf regime on November 14, 2007, “All through the years of the Soviet empire, its Politburo held “elections.” Of course, calling something an election and actually having it be an election are different things.”  Mr. Zaidi stated that our election process is equivalent to the Soviet Union described by Benazir Bhutto.

Seeing the condition of Sindh and Karachi under the PPP-led Sindh Government during the past 15 years, no sane person in this province could vote for PPP unless rigging and political engineering is going on.

Furthermore, Mr. Zaidi conveyed a message to the political engineers that they were damaging the country by manipulating the public’s mandate.

The PTI Sindh President stated that PTI rejected the results and process of the Karachi local elections held on January 15 and the next course of action would be announced after consulting with leadership.

Plus, Mr. Zaidi demanded that all results be released to the candidates immediately.  He also demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner for failing to ensure a free and fair election.  Mr. Zaidi accused IG Police Sindh and AIG Karachi Police of failing to stop rigging and maintain order at the polling stations and thus, demanded their resignations.

PTI Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar MPA concluded the press conference.  In his remarks, Mr. Ghaffar pointed out that many polling stations throughout Karachi began the voting process late because of a lack of staff and materials.  In some cases, the Presiding Officers were absent.  The PTI Karachi President reiterated that PTI was winning in 70 UCs as per the Form 11s in his possession and also pointed out that some of the forms had overwriting too.  Either the Form 11s that PTI has is correct or the results issued by the Returning Officer.

Mr. Ghaffar along with PTI Sindh President emphatically rejected the results of the Karachi local elections.