Karachi :
In Karachi, there has been a sharp disagreement over the recount of votes in the by-elections of National Assembly 249, after which the PML-N, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan, Pak-Sar-Zamin Party (PSP), Pakistan Tehreek Justice (PTI) has boycotted the recount, opposing it.
Political parties have accused the Returning Officer (RO) of failing to provide Form 45 and 46 of the constituency concerned and breaking the seal of the ballot bag, after which he boycotted the recount in protest and called for re-election What is the demand?
Meanwhile, the counting of votes was halted at 10:15 am. The recount of NA-249 by-election votes started at around 12 noon.
The PML-N, PSP, PTI, MQM Pakistan and two independent candidates had filed a joint petition boycotting the recount process.
In this regard, PML-N leader Muftah Ismail said that MQM-Pakistan, PSP, PTI boycotted the recount of votes in the by-election of NA-249 and was out of the ECP office. Come on
Talking to media in Karachi, he added, “But there are PPP (PPP), Tehreek-e-Libek Pakistan (TLP) and independent candidates inside.”
He said that he had reached here on the order of recount by the Election Commission. Muftah Ismail said that he was not boycotting alone but other parties had also come out.
Muftah Ismail said that even in the morning, the RO said that they would not give Form 46 but at least show us the signature on the form. The cell must have fallen.
The PML-N leader said that we will go to the Election Commission and ask them to stop the joke about recounting. Muftah Ismail said that unused ballots were not allowed to be counted and the signatures were not checked. He said that RO today also refused to issue Forms 45 and 46 and refused to conduct a full audit.
In addition, he said that the Form 45 that was received did not have 167 signatures while the RO counter was not even showing the file, so the count is useless.
Muftah Ismail said that it was clear in the rules of the Election Commission that Form 46 could be given because without it there could be no audit.
In response to a question, he said that if defeated, he would admit it a thousand times and defeat the successful political rival.
The petition filed by PTI said that before the election, the votes of 17,000 people were transferred to other cities and the preferred officers were made presiding officers from the education department.
The petition said that PPP started development projects to win its candidate and Form 45 was not given to polling agents at many polling stations.
Later, PML-N leader Muftah Ismail, in a petition to the Election Commission on the issue of recount of votes in NA-249 in Karachi, said that the Returning Officer was only allowing the recount of correct votes. Therefore, the recount process should be stopped temporarily.
He said that RO Form 46 was also not being provided and counting of unused ballot papers was not being allowed. He said that all parties had boycotted the counting process while all election materials were under the Election Act. Testing is our right.
Earlier, PTI leader and candidate Amjad Afridi announced that the PTI had rejected the recount on NA-249.
He said that application has been submitted to RO by the party. He said that we were not given Form 46 and only Form 45 of 70 polling stations were given.
“Unless we are given Form 46 and Form 45 of all polling stations, we cannot be part of the recount,” Afridi said.
MQM Pakistan leader Muhammad Mursalin said that the party boycotted the recount process. He said that when the ballot boxes were brought, they did not have a seal. Was tied
It may be recalled that on May 4, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had passed a reserved judgment approving the PML-N’s request for recount of votes in National Assembly constituency 249.
The Election Commission had ordered a recount of votes on May 6 at 9 am for which all parties should reach the RO office.
PPP candidate Qadir Mandokhel had won the NA-249 by-election in Karachi by a narrow margin after getting 16,156 votes, while Dr Muftah Ismail had secured the second position with 15,473 votes. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and PML-N had rejected the election results.
