PTI rejects ‘rigged’ Karachi LB poll results

• Fawad accuses Sindh government of rigging in LB polls.
• “It is clear why ECP opposed EVMs,” says former info minister
• PTI has left seat of power twice, “trusts people”, claims Imran’s aide

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry Tuesday emphatically rejected the results of the much-awaited phase two of the local body elections in Sindh. 

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore after a meeting of senior party members, the former information minister said that it "is now clear why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has opposed electronic voting machines (EVMs)". 

He added that had the EVMs been used, there would have been no delay in the election results. A number of political parties raised questions over the delay in the LB polls' results, terming it "rigged" by the provincial authorities.

Fawad also said that PTI vehemently rejected the results of the LB elections in Karachi.

Results of the polls that took place on January 15 after much ado and were released more than 36 hours after the polling. 

According to the results, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had emerged victorious in the elections by winning 93 of the 235 seats. They were followed by Jamaat-e-Islami (86), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (40), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (7), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (3), independents (3), Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (2) and Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (1).

After the poll results had been delayed by 18 hours the PTI and the JI condemned the delays, while the former rejected the results Monday.

In his press conference regarding the matter Tuesday, Fawad accused the Sindh government of rigging the elections and alleged the abuse of government resources.

“Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the federal government have repeatedly tried to keep the people away from the local elections by insinuating that there was a security threat in Karachi,” the PTI leader claimed, adding that if people were intimidated, it was inevitable that voter turnout would be affected.

Reiterating the three-day delay in the announcement of the LB election results, Fawad said that it now made sense to him why the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) leaders and the ECP were set against the introduction of EVMs in the country. “With the EVMs the ECP would not have been able to commit vote tampering or form tampering.”

“The PTI has twice left its seat of power,” he said, “is proof of the trust Imran Khan and PTI have in the people of Pakistan.”

He then hailed the three candidates pitched by the PTI as caretaker CMs of Punjab following the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly on January 14. He said that all three names forwarded by PTI were “reliable”; whereas, the names pitched by the government did not seem to be very serious suggestions.

Adding that they had received no nominees directly from the government, Fawad said that the two potential names for the post that were circulating on social media seemed to be “jokes” as he believed neither of the two could possibly be taken as serious candidates as caretaker CM.

Earlier, the PML-N sent two names to Punjab Governor Baligh Ur Rehman for the post of the province’s caretaker chief minister, rejecting the three names suggested by Parvez Elahi.

PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz has sent the names of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Establishment Ahad Cheema and senior journalist Mohsin Naqvi to the governor for consideration.