NA-46 Khyber Agency: Re-election at 21 polling stations in Bara

Candidates want all stations to be polled again, threaten protests.

BARA:

Voting at 21 polling stations in NA-46 Bara, Khyber Agency will be held on May 18 as results were rejected by a majority of the candidates. Parties came to blows over allegations of rigging at polling stations for the internally displaced on Saturday.

Political parties and independent candidates accused each other of rigging, snatched ballot boxes and tore-up ballot papers, resulting in a brawl in Shakhas, Jamrud. The area held approximately 41 polling stations for men and women from Bara.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), polling for 21 stations will now take place on May 18, 2013. Candidates demand polling should be held at all polling stations to ensure transparency in the process.



The results from 20 polling booths suggest Nasir Khan, an independent candidate with 1,236 votes, was leading. He was followed by former MNA and independent candidate Hameedullah Jan Afridi with 1,175 and Iqbal Afridi from Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) with some 706 votes.

Jamaat-e-Islami candidates Shah Faisal Afridi, former MNA Muhammad Shah Afridi, Imran Afridi, Sohail Ahmad Afridi, Senator Haji Khan Afridi; Jamiat-e-Ulema-Fazl’s Maulana Shamsud Din and Qaumi Watan Party’s Ajab Khan Afridi met with the returning officer (RO) and Political Agent Khyber Agency Mutahir Zeb.

The candidates insisted rigging took place in at least 20 of the polling stations and threatened protests outside the PA’s office if the ECP did not meet their demands.

They alleged tribesmen barged into polling stations and stuffed ballot boxes with fake votes on Saturday. The PTI candidate Iqbal Afridi’s son was shot and injured in the ensuing brawl, after which polling was halted.

RO Mutahir Zeb assured irate candidates polling at the rest of the stations was transparent. However candidates insisted they wanted the entire constituency NA-46 to be polled again.

Talking to journalists, independent candidate Hameedullah Jan said he would accept the result whether he wins or loses. His opponents have blamed him of rigging, he added.

Refuting those allegations, Jan said the problem was not rigging but the voters’ list. He blamed the ECP for the error and claimed the list sent to the polling station had been altered. Tribesmen were asked to go to other polling stations to cast their ballot which resulted in confusion, and he added, the ensuring chaos.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2013.