Mengal urges verification, recounting on NA-272

Alleges number of votes cast are not in line with those mentioned on electoral lists

QUETTA: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Mohammad Akhtar Mengal has urged the election authorities to stop the announcement of results for NA-272 Lasbela-cum-Gwadar constituency and recount and verify the votes as the number of votes cast are not in line with those mentioned on the electoral lists.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner, Balochistan election commissioner and returning officer of NA-272 Lasbela-cum-Gwadar, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, Mengal has claimed that in several polling stations of the constituency, the presiding officers were not provided Form 45 and polling agents were not allowed to sit at the time of counting the votes.



He has also claimed that other contesting candidates with the collusion of presiding officers/polling staff of several polling stations cast bogus votes, which is evident from the fact that the number of voters are far too many than those on the electoral lists.

Separately, Mengal has said that it is impossible for his party to celebrate the election victory as “we lost hundreds of innocent people in the recent Mastung and the Quetta suicide attacks”.

Mengal stated this while meeting various delegations coming to congratulate him over his party’s victory in the elections.

Mengal said, “The massacres of Mastung and Quetta have turned our celebrations into mourning. Our conscience is not allowing us to celebrate as Balochistan lost hundreds of innocent lives in the suicide attacks.”



 

On elections in Balochistan, Mengal said, “The Election Commission of Pakistan released flawed voters’ lists which created hurdles for the people as they had to wait in long queues outside the polling stations.”

“Hundreds of voters were deprived of casting their votes due to slow performance of the election staff,” he said, adding that despite presence of security forces “our opponents took ballot boxes” while delays in election results were due to the poor performance of the ECP.

He announced he would visit Quetta to meet his party’s leadership and discuss the future of BNP-M whether to sit on opposition benches or be part of the government.