ECP failed to ensure free and fair polls, claims Ali Zaidi

PTI refuses to accept local govt election results

KARACHI:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Sindh, President and former Federal Minister Ali Zaidi said on Monday that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) conducted the election on his petition but failed to ensure clean and transparent polls.

He said that the Election Commission is directly involved in rigging, and those who call what happened in Karachi yesterday an election are fools.

Zaidi expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the PTI Sindh Secretariat where other party leaders, including PTI Sindh General Secretary Mobin Jatoi, PTI Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar, Sindh Vice President Agha Arsalan, Members of Assembly Faheem Khan, Shahzad Qureshi, Shahnawaz Jadoon, Rabia Azfar were also present.

Ali Zaidi further said that the Election Commission maintains that there was peace in the local government elections in Karachi. However, by consensus, it means that the election has been rigged peacefully. Despite all the rigging, the PTI has won more than 70 UCs.

He said that the candidates had been waiting for the results outside the RO offices since last night while the ROs were doing political engineering in their offices. He said that

Imran Khan has already said that the elections would be biased. The results are being changed by those sitting inside offices of government.

Zaidi said that PTI would knock on every door against the rigging. He further said that PTI members of the provincial assembly Rabistan Khan and Adeel Ahmed were stopping the rigging and were arrested by the police. At the same time, Amjad Afridi and his brothers have been charged with terrorism. A gang of criminals is ruling here, and the police are sitting in their laps. Many of our leaders are being chased after by the police. After this press conference, maybe the police will come after me, Zaidi said.Addressing the press conference, PTI Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar said bogus votes were cast during the polls. When PTI raised its voice against rigging, those in charge said they could not do anything. PTI was winning at 70 UCs till last night, but the results that have been announced today are wrong.

Many forms were found overwritten. In Saeed Ghani's UC, the PTI won by 400 votes. Saeed Ghani's dream was to make his brother the chairman of the town, which had been destroyed.

At the end of the press conference, Ali Zaidi said that the workers should be ready. The next course of action will be announced soon after consulting the leadership.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2023.