PPP accused of pre-poll rigging

MQM-P demands deployment of army, rangers at ‘PPP-influenced’ polling stations

HYDERABAD:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has blamed the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for alleged pre-poll rigging by shifting some polling stations away from the areas of the voters and engaging the local government representatives in the canvass.

Speaking at the press conference at Hyderabad Press Club on Saturday, the candidates including former MNA Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani, Abdul Aleem Khanzada and others demanded deployment of the army and the rangers at the polling stations where they are afraid that rigging might take place.

Qaimkhani said polling station number 127 at GBPS Haris Panhwar in NA-219 Latifabad taluka has been shifted to GBHS Husri which is five kilometers away from the locality where the voters reside.

He pointed out that the polling stations of over eight villages which were set up in the Kohsar area during 2013 and 2018 general elections in view of the proximity of the voters have been relocated to distant places.

He called for installing CCTV cameras especially in the female polling stations because his party feared that massive balloting would occur at those stations.

Qaimkhani alleged that in the previous general election the PPP's workers expelled the polling agents of MQM-P from some polling stations in Hyderabad during the vote count.

"They are again preparing a strategy to do the same by using money and the police force," he maintained.

He went on to accuse the candidates of PPP for using the government machinery to threaten the candidates of MQM-P.

He claimed that the photos of Mayor Hyderabad Kashif Ali Shoro can be seen on the PPP's banners and posters in violation of the ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Qaimkhani said the chairman of Town Municipal Corporations (TMCs) and those of the union committees were publicly campaigning for the PPP's candidates.

"The member Sindh in the ECP advocate Nisar Durrani is a part of the PPP's election campaign and he is also impeding action against that party for violating the election rules," he alleged.

Qaimkhani questioned why the ECP is silent in the face of such complaints.

The former MNA also blamed Jamaat-e-Islami for using the government's resources and vehicles to fix the party's flags and banners in Hyderabad.

The candidates MQM-P demanded the interim government and the ECP to take action against the government officers and the local government representatives who are being partisan in favour of a contesting party.

Read: PPP, PTI independents to form govt in centre: Khuhro

Statistics

There are three constituencies of the National Assembly and six of the Sindh Assembly in Hyderabad in which 1,225,147 people, including 662,713 male and 562,434 female voters, are registered to cast their votes on February 8.

As many as 883 polling stations consisting of 3,219 booths, among which 1,700 would be for male and 1,519 for female voters, are being established in Hyderabad.

Historically, two of the most populated talukas, City and Latifabad, have elected the lawmakers from MQM-P and the remaining two talukas with lower population, Qasimabad and Hyderabad, have thrown their weight behind the PPP's candidates.

There is one seat of NA and two of PS each in City and Latifabad talukas while Qasimabad and Hyderabad taluka share the NA seat while having one seat each of the PS. Until 2013, the MQM-P used to secure all the six seats from City, which is old Hyderabad, and Latifabad while one seat of the NA and two of PS from Qasimabad and Hyderabad were bagged by the PPP.

However, in 2018 the PPP made inroads in Latifabad by electorally capturing one of the two seats of the Sindh Assembly in Latifabad. In the ongoing election campaign, the PPP's candidates hope to secure more seats from erstwhile strongholds of the MQM-P in City taluka. The MQM-P, meanwhile, looks poised to win back the PS constituency of Latifabad from the PPP.

The party has launched a strong candidate, Qaimkhani who was elected as MNA from Latifabad, from that constituency of PS-62.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2024.