NA 125 goes to Khawaja Saad Rafique. PHOTO: FILE
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Saad Rafique had won the seat with Hamid Khan securing the runner up position in the race.
Earlier Hamid Khan had accused the PML-N candidates and their agents of casting bogus votes and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers at NA-125 constituency. However, the returning officer rejected Hamid Khan’s petition.
Later, PTI Chief Imran Khan also gave the commission three days to accept his party’s demand for recounting of votes in six constituencies including NA-125, which was rejected.
COMMENTS (60)
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A big shame for Hamid Khan. I always appreciated him. I believe that he does not deserve any appreciation. He did fake and false propaganda on the advice of his leader.
Khawaja Saad Rafiq always did neat, clean and corruption-free politics. Hamid Khan should be sued for defamation of Khawaja Saad Rafique.
While the ECP has taken an excellent but belated decision of declaring winner as the winner, there is now a strong need to punish Hamid Khan for: 1. Lying under oath that he has witnessed rigging in polling stations. 2. Giving a wrong proof to the Court by showing the video of Sindh Rangers personnel in certain unidentified polling stations of NA-125. 3. Disrupting the smooth flow of traffic by blocking a road in DHA Lahore for more than a week. 4. Wasting 10 days of the Pakistani Nation by repeating his claim in every talk show funded by his party.
Justice demands that Hamid Khan should be made to pay for this inconvenience & loss to the residents of DHA Lahore and nuisance to all viewers of tv channels.
@Brand Manager of Uth Oye: The right phrase to explain their hallucinations would be a clouded judgement as a result of their bias against PML-N and in favour of PTI. Also, a delusion that told them that Imran would 'sweep' the elections :) - PTI fans are still recovering from a hurt, and the easiest method of recovery is finding a scapegoat.
khawaja saad rafiq had an excellent track record as a politician. I am so sad that his image has been destroyed by PTI.
I congratulate Khawaja Saad Rafique. Khawaja Saad Rafique is a quite clean personality in PML-N. No charge of corruption have ever been made against him. Even PPP never blamed him during last 15 or 20 years. PTI did very bad to make him a disputed personality on the basis of baseless allegations without any solid proof. He is a popular personality in NA-125 and he won the seat with big margin of 40,000 votes. Good decision of ECP.
There was no rigging in entire Punjab and KPK. However massive rigging on all seats in Karachi.
@minda i like yours comment and pti don't take revenge for this (and all over punjab) defeat from karachi people
Saad Rafique Karachi Congratulates you!!!
@Faheem: And you better finish your English homework. "On".
@AZMAT: the reason he won by such big margin is a proof of rigging and more than 100% voter turnout means angels casted votes lol.
@JUNOON: if he won by large margin that it wont hurt to do a re-polling and fingerprint check. But suprisingly both request have been denied.
Some misscalculations led to the lead touching the mark of 40k. Otherwise, it was originally planned to stay around 10k. Guys@NA-122 got it right.
All my best wishes for pml n. They have won the elections. PTI should congratulate PML N with open heart.
PTI should accept defeat. People reject the fake "Change"........We dont need new Pakistan just need the of Quaid and Iqbal,s Pakistan. Infect the triumph of PMLN is a real change. Is it not a change that in this election the turnout is 55%. PTI says that the change in name of PTI triumph.
lahore is more of an ego issue than rigging for both parties and they will do anything to claim lahore as their own. I hope next elections are more transparent so none of the contestants whine.
Good decision by ECP. No need of re-polling or re-counting. PTI should show courage, patience and sportsman spirit. They are losers.
Saad Rafique is the real winner. I congratulate him. Hamid Khan should accept his defeat.
@Sullen: Shame for you on using such language. What else can be expected from PTI supporter?? I will not use such language for your leader.
Hamid Khan was winning by 8000 votes till 1 am....results of 202 polling stations were held at that time...aggregate count of those 202 polling stations was released around 6-7am....Saad Rafique won by 40,000 votes....similar practice were done in all constituencies of lahore where results were close....the rest where PML N was winning comfortably were released on time eg Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif's constituencies..... but yes that does make complete sense because PML N now has the "mandate"....
@ steven john, bro take it easy, there were 85 million other voters apart from you...37 million didnt agree with you whereas over 7 million thought the same way as you...dont be so angry towards everything, you have done your part, and well done for voting....and stay patient, this is evolutionary process, you sound like a young guy which shows in your ambition but someting we have to wait for thigs to happen!!! IK waited for 17 years, Mandella waited for 27 years and Jinnah had to wait from 1916 to 1947....btw im not PTI supporter neither PML-N but i respect them for the vigour and emotions they showed in the election...well done and keep up and dont forget sometimes means are not as important as end!!!end is Progessing Pakistan and hopefully this will happen!
What is the harm in recounting? PMLN is scared of losing seats every time there is a re-count! Shame on them for pressurizing ECP!
@A-No.1: ECP impartiality has been exposed. It was a conspiracy to block popular mandate of change, and RO were used as most effective tool for saving the status quo of which the ECP itself was a part. The army was deliberately not invited inside the polling stations to facilitate rigging unabated. Indeed IK had made a political error by not supporting Dr Tahir-ul- qadri. All his pre election observations about the post election scenarios have come true. The losers are now in a quandary
ECP does not have any power to order for re-polling. What happened in NA-250 was not re-polling, since on the 11th of May, no polling took place at many polling stations. Furthermore, any grievances that a defeated canidate has, can only be dealt with by the Election Tribunal and not the Election Commission. I think we should give the Election Commission a break and for once applaud them for conducting elections in Pakistan when it is in a state of war. Conducting elections is a mamoth task!!! Having observed the plight of voters in the 2008 elections, the 2013 elections were on the other end of the spectrum. Its just that in 2013 more voters actually got involved and raised their voices. In 2018 things will work out for the better. Elections do not change the system. People change the system.
@Naseer: "ECP should have done a recount for NA-250 and clear the rigging controversy. What ECP is afraid of?"
NA-250 did not just have recounting, it actually had repolling. This news item refers to NA-125. Since the lead of the winner is large, evidence supporting rigging by the loser turned out to be fake, there is no rationale for recounting. IT would set a disastrous precedent where any losing candidate gets his supporters to create protest will put a question mark on the election results. In addition it is a wastage of national resource.
People who say that everyone in 'their area' voted for PTI should realize that Saad Rafique actually heavily lost in those polling stations but he won with a handsome margin in other stations. No democracy works in a manner where the losers can continue to request repolling/recounting until and unless the result is the one they want.
Massive rigging took place in NA-125.There is no other way in Pakistan to get your 'right', except to resort to street protests.
@JUNOON: I guess multiple witnesses just collectively hallucinated his cheating antics then.
The PTI seems more like a rainy cloud, rather than a tsunami. What an epic failure of Imran Khan.
WOAH! Has the PML N now hired people to comment on their behalf!
Sweet summer internships!
Saad rafique might have won the seat even without the antics he got upto at DHA polling stations. However, the fact is that he not only harassed female voters but was involved in a lot of off hand tactics. Voters were out raged at his behavior and he was roundly booed when he had to be evicted twice from the female polling stations ..second time by rangers. Meesha shafi tweeted about what she thinks about saad rafiques actions and organized protest against him. The point is not that he won, even if he won by 100k votes, his actions shows the impunity with which these politicians treat us normal ppl and their complete disregard for the rule of law. Lastly, these ppl will never fix the police, the judicial system or the patwari system and the common ppl harping their names will continue to suffer.
That is one of the differences between PTI and PMLN...PTI believe 'Jeet Har Hoti Ha' but follow through on your principles to improve the system..What would have PMLN done if they believed that corruption had been done because they only believe in 'Jeet' and Muk Mukha if 'Har' happens to them...
ECP should have done a recount for NA-250 and clear the rigging controversy. What ECP is afraid of?
shame on ECP for conduction bias elections
PTI should not have double standard either it should accept the election as a whole or reject including KP
Jehangir Tareen has three recounts, Hamid Khan two.......Keep on counting ECP Untill PTI WINS.
Interestingly, he was the one who first claimed of rigging. Being myself a resident of the constituency (NA-125), I very well remember his talking to media in the early hours of the polls. One could easily pick from his talk and face that he was the losing candidate, which was in fact a reality on ground.
Logic prevails and the underage burger kids are defeated once again! The mental age of PTI supporter is not more than 5 years.
Wow.... What a decision...... So you don`t see many people outside on the streets of Lahore protesting against your declared winner since the election...
The decision is out. Children, now go back home. Turn on your AC on 16c and finish your school homework.
PTI is always a cry baby. Move over kids, PML(N) is going to rock you guys
that is the way things go in here....dirty
Right decision by the ECP. The recounting and other measures should be based on any fact not on the wishes of losers. If ECP starts entertaining every loser, the whole process of election will have no purpose.
PML(N) delivered a lot in Lahore. That is why they have won the seats in this city. There is no need of any recounting in Lahore. It will be just wastage of time and resources.
What a shame,I won't be casting my vote ever again in this country.I feel sick,bad,angry and I am seriously thinking to leave this country.Good bye ECP and Pakistan.
I congratulate Khawaja Sahib. Right decision by ECP.
PTI should stop crying now. they should awake from the dreams and accept the defeat. ALLAH bless Pakistan.
Lead of forty thousands is a very big lead that cannot be obtained with rigging. There was no rigging in the entire Punjab.
ECP should ask what does hamid khan want, firstly he requested for recounting then he asked for re-polling. The evidence brought by hamid khan proved to be false, in which he showed rangers personnel forbidding voters - as it was sindh's ranger and also the vidoe depicting saad rafique in polling station - he had right to go to polling station as a candidate, whereas a mob of PTI ladies surrounded him
Long live Nawaz Sharif. Allah bless him.
There are polling agents on every polling booth , the agents verify voters coming in, they mark them on voting lists and keep a count as voters cast votes right in front of Polling agents. It is impossible to stuff ballot boxes unless Your polling agent is on opponents pay list or been forced out of polling station. Hamid Khan, if you dont have anything on your own polling agents, yu better congratulate Saad Rafiq.
saad rafique won NA-125 due to massive support from youth. hamid khan did negative propaganda against him. PTI should accept the defeat with open heart.
false propaganda by PTI supporters. Khawaja Saad Rafique won the seat with huge margin. PTI just wanted to make his victory disputed. Allah bless PML-N.
Saad Rafique got a lead of 40000 votes. It is a very big lead. If we consider that there was rigging, it means totally capture 50 to 60 polling stations to get a lead of 40000 votes. I believe that there is no rigging in NA-125. Saad Rafiq genuinely won the seat. I appreciate the decision of Election Commission,
Very Unfair Decision! but This time the PTI supporters must Let it go, and respect the decision!
Good decision of ECP.
What else did anyone expect. Reality check required for PTI supporters. Re-polling only devised for MQM areas. Chill now and learn the art of making possible the impossible.
he is watching some thing green,look at his eye iris