Claims of rigging: In Sindh, PPP rejects Thatta results

Alleges ECP staff changed results of its candidates for national, provincial assembly seats.

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has rejected the election results for the national and provincial assembly seats from Thatta, Sindh.

Addressing an emergency press conference, PPP candidates from Thatta Owais Muzaffar, Sussi Palejo, Abdul Khaliq Soomro and Sadiq Memon alleged that Election Commission of Pakistan staff had changed the results of PPP candidates.

Palejo claimed she had polled the highest number of votes till Saturday night, but her majority turned into a minority during the 24-hour delay it took to announce the results. She said similar injustice and rigging was carried out in the case of PS-86 candidate Perveen Leghari and PS-84’s Abdul Hameed Soomro.

Palejo added she has asked the ECP to recount the votes and the commission has summoned her on 14 May in this regard. She warned she would approach the court if justice was not served.

She claimed to have given a tough time in the past to people like Pakistan Muslim League-Likeminded chief Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and the “hooliganism of the Shirazi community would not be tolerated”.

Muzaffar alleged his opponents attempted to murder him on polling day. Working as a political worker with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari in past elections, he said the May 11 elections were controlled by “goons and the staff of the returning officer was helping the Shirazi group.”

He lamented that no action was taken despite him pointing out such incidents three days before May 11. He called the Shirazis “a criminal gang”, rather than a political group.

Meanwhile, Soomro said May 11 was like a warzone and he had informed all the relevant departments on time but no one took any action to stop rigging.

The newly elected PPP member of the provincial assembly from Thatta, Sadiq Memon said that his party candidates got approximately the same number of votes this time as they did in the past, but the Shirazis got “40% more votes through rigging.”

He presented the media his car which was riddled with bullet holes.

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