Secretary General, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Convenor, Larkana Awami Ittehad (LAI), Dr Safdar Ali Abbasi, on Monday rejected the local bodies election results and demanded re-election after proper preparation by ECP.
Local bodies elections in Larkana and Kambar-Shahdadkot districts were a product of sheer rigging, he said while addressing a press conference at Larkana Press Club along with JUI-Fazal’s Provincial Secretary General Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro.
He said that on the election day, the ECP’s claims proved false, as the voters were missing, there were no polling stations, while the PPP’s Sindh government had appointed 14th grade officers in place of the 18th grade who openly and daringly supported PPP candidates.
He said that the last date for the candidates’ scrutiny was May 20 which was extended till 27th by them, in which many forms of our candidates were rejected while results of Ghotki had not yet been declared who had staged a sit-in adding that a similar situation prevailed in Dokri. He said after the vote counting, election results were always given to the agent of the candidates but it had not yet been done which showed that it was a game of money.
He said our voters were subjected to manhandling whereas PPP voters were provided protection by police which was negligence of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He said the Sindh government did not allow the army and Rangers to be deployed in the elections adding if there was deployment of the army and the Rangers, the election would not have been rigged.
He demanded that the ECP must prepare very well at the very outset and hold re-elections, because they were completely rejecting this election.
Maulana Rashid Soomro said that he addressed media persons in 14 districts of Sindh before elections and informed the relevant authorities about the pre-planning of the Sindh government that ROs and DROs would be acting like servants of PPP. He said his family’s 14 votes were not available in the voter lists and he had to run from one to another polling station to cast his vote.
He demanded of the prime minister Shehbaz Sharif to inquire from Asif Zardari as to why rigging was made in Sindh and also demanded of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman to take up the issue of rigging with the coalition government and dispense justice with the people of Larkana. He said they would discuss the issue in their provincial central committee meeting.
MPA Moazim Ali Abbasi said that in one UC, there were 6000 registered votes and in another only 400 which proved that election rigging was preplanned.
