Rigging allegations rife in violence-marred LG polls

SUP, GDA say polling officials helped PPP candidates

KARACHI:

The Sindh United Party (SUP) Chairman and Convener of the Sindh Action Committee Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah on Sunday strongly protested over irregularities in the first phase of the Local Government elections held in northern Sindh.

Jalal Mahmood Shah said that Pakistan Poeples Party (PPP) resorted to hooliganism, harassment and kidnappings of opposition candidates and voters during the first phase of Sindh local bodies' elections. Strongly condemning such incidents, he said, "We reject the biased local bodies' elections and demand immediate re-election under the supervision of the army by deploying neutral Returning Officers (ROs) and Deputy ROs."

Calling the polling on Sunday as "the worst local bodies elections held in Sindh," Shah said PPP stole the mandate by rigging the elections through ROs, DROs and presiding officers and the police in the province. He said that the Sindh government under PPP micromanaged the LG polls.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed to conduct the elections in a free, fair, and transparent manner. Jalal said, "We had already informed the ECP about our concerns through a letter that the PPP wanted to rig the elections by creating the law-and-order situation, but our concerns were not taken seriously."

He said that in Kandhkot SUP candidates were taken hostage and ballots were stamped in the presence of the police. The SUP and opposition workers were attacked. Arbab Ghulam Rahim's son was tortured with the support of PPP. The Sindh government and the ECP are responsible for the bloodshed, kidnappings and violence in Sindh. "We reject this first round of the local body elections."

PML-F

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) Sindh General Secretary Sardar Abdul Rahim and Information Secretary Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) said on Sunday, "though Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah gave us an independent country, the people of Sindh were deprived of their right to vote for the candidates of their choice."

Rahim said the police and other agencies were directly involved in the conspiracy. Personnel of police and other law enforcing agencies were absent when miscreants opened fire on GDA central leader Murtaza Khan Jatoi, Masroor Khan Jatoi and other leaders in Moro.

Such was the highhandedness of PPP goons that the Zardari League thugs took the staff of polling stations hostage in Nawabshah and ran away with ballot boxes and ballot papers, Rahim said. He said that GDA candidates were taken hostage in Larkana and ballot papers were forcibly stamped. He said that GDA workers were attacked in Sanghar, Kotdigi and other areas.

Complaints have been lodged with the ECP but they are repeating the same thing that everything is fine. The people of Sindh have rejected the fraudulent elections, he said.