Electoral angst: PPP alleges that Arbab Rahim holds unfair influence in Tharparkar

They have sent a letter to ECP requesting to move 173 polling stations in the district.

MITHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party has sent a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), requesting that 173 polling stations in Tharparkar, which tend to vote predominantly for Pakistan Muslim League-Likeminded’s Arbab Ghulam Rahim, be moved.

In the letter, the president of PPP’s Tharparkar chapter, Dr Mahesh Malani, alleged that Arbab Rahim held an unfair influence in these areas which could affect the outcome of the elections. A number of villages in Tharparkar are part of the areas where, according to Malani, electoral outcomes might be biased.

In the letter, Malani requested that these villages be declared ‘sensitive areas’. He claimed that many polling stations had been placed in small villages which voted exclusively for Arbab Rahim instead of the big villages where people’s political affiliations were more varied. While speaking to The Express Tribune, a former member of Sindh Assembly, Abdul Razzaque Rahimoon denied the allegation that Arbab Rahim had unfair influence in Tharparkar. “These polling stations are not new,” he explained.



“They were set up in 1971 and people have been participating in every election since then through these polling stations.” He claimed that PPP didn’t have any votes in Tharparkar. “Before going to the election commission, Malani should prove that PPP has support in Tharparkar’.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2013.