JUI-F’s Kifayat says polls were clean

In an unprecedented move, JUI-F contender for NA-15 Mufti Kifayatullah has declared that there were no malicious activities during the elections, and the public had voted in favour of the PTI-backed independent candidate Shahzada Muhammad Gushtasip Khan.

“I have observed the polls closely,” he told the media in Mansehra.

The JUI-F leader said he was personally present in the control room and the party’s polling agents were present in all the constituencies.

He added that they had noted nothing suspicious about the polls.

However, he conceded that the PTI had put in greater energy and mobilised its voters.

“In my opinion, when the people have given their mandate to them [PTI], it should be respected and the results shouldn’t be changed at all,” he continued.

He recalled that in the election of 1970 before the creation of Bangladesh, Awami League chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not handed over power despite his party bagging over 160 seats and that led to the splitting up of the country.

He warned that if the people’s decision was not accepted, it would create raise a major question over the country’s integrity.

Kifayat said he had accepted his defeated in the elections and urged PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to gracefully acknowledge his failure.

He claimed that the former premier’s case was notably weak if he took the legal course.

The JUI-F leader congratulated his rival in the polls and asked the PML-N supremo to so the same as well, adding that it would increase Nawaz’s stature.