Two presiding officers in Balochistan 'kidnapped, forced to submit fake results'

Presiding officer claims abductors release, handout Form-45 of their own hours later

A returning officer (RO) from Balochistan's Washuk district on Thursday claimed that two presiding officers were allegedly kidnapped on July 25, the election day, while leading to their polling stations' results exclusion in the final count of constituency PB-41, Express News reported.

The matter was taken up by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the losing candidate Mir Mujeebur Rehman Mohammad Hasani's petition drew its attention to the fact that results of polling stations number 44 and 45 were missing from the final vote count.

MMA, other opposition parties block Balochistan highways

The returning officer said that two presiding officers claimed that they did not give in the results themselves and were forced to submit the results compiled by their abductors.

"Who abducted them?" an ECP official asked the returning officer.

Kamran Murtaza, the counsel for PB-41 winner from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), quoted the presiding officers as saying that they were "abducted by security forces".

The presiding officer of polling station 44 was then presented before the ECP where he said,"Several masked men came and took me with them and after several hours I was handed Form 45."