ECP office attacked during vote recount

Masked men burn bags containing election material

KARACHI:

Masked men attacked the Regional Election Commission office, vandalised property, snatched ballot papers, and burnt a bag containing ballot papers and election materials during the recounting of votes at four polling stations for NA231 Malir seat.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have accuses each other for the attack, while the Election Commission has filed a case against unidentified culprits.

A recount at polling stations number 65, 71, 98, and 175 was scheduled for 10am on Friday morning by order of the Election Tribunal. At this time, successful PPP MNA Abdul Hakim Baloch, PTI-backed independent candidate Khalid Mehmood, and other candidates were present at the Regional Election Commissioner's office.

However, at around 11am, a group of masked men entered the Election Commission office, broke down the door of the room where the counting was taking place, and seized ballot papers and other election materials. They burnt the bag containing election material and fled the scene with some election material. Those present claimed that everything happened within few minutes.

According to the PTI candidate, during the incident, he and his son were attacked by unknown individuals who also took away his laptop while the police stood by as silent spectators. PPP's Abdul Hakim Baloch blamed the PTI for the incident.

It is notable that Abdul Hakim Baloch of the PPP was declared successful in the general elections with 43,634 votes in this constituency, leading by 389 votes, while his opponent, Khalid Mehmood, received 43,245 votes.

Khalid Mehmood had challenged Abdul Hakim Baloch's victory in the election tribunal.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan took serious notice of the incident and requested for an immediate report from the Provincial Election Commission of Sindh.

The Election Commission directed the Chief Secretary and IG Sindh to take legal action against those involved. Shortly after the incident, the staff from the Regional Election Commissioner's office in Karachi went to the Sindh Election Commission office, stating that they were leaving to save their lives and felt insecure, despite security measures in place.