He also stated that 57,000 votes in the NA 256 constituency could not be verified. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ FILE
During a press conference, he also stated that as a result, “57,000 votes in the NA 256 constituency could not be verified.”
Addressing the issue of rigging in elections he added, “If thumb verification was done at the polling stations then the problem of rigging in elections will no longer exist.”
At the same press conference the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed said, “A new system is in place which includes a biometric system as well. As a result of this new things are expected to come out.”
“The election tribunals are listening to 400 complaints,” he added.
NA-256
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Iqbal Muhammad Ali had won the seat, defeating Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Muhammad Zubair Khan, who later challenged the result of 67 polling stations before the election tribunal.
Subsequently, election tribunal ordered Nadra on August 20 to verify the thumb impressions of the voters.
Complying with the tribunal’s direction, Nadra examined and compared the election material. The Nadra report revealed that over 57,000 votes could not be verified in the constituency where 5,893 duplicate and 1,950 fake votes were cast.
NA-258
Nadra's report on this constituency revealed that only 2, 400 of the total votes cast in the NA-258 constituency, Karachi, were genuine.
PML-N’s candidate Abdul Hakim Baloch had won in this area with a total of 51,148 votes cast for him.
His victory was challenged by the Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Abdur Razzaq Raja.
COMMENTS (42)
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@Arshad Khan: You are confused more than MQM.You are writing with fickle minded.If we go through your comments it looks meaningless.Wahi ghisay pitay jumle aur ghise pitay mukhalfeen.Even u don't deserve to comment.You people have been crying for 40 years and will cry for centuries but alas alas...........
@Khan: @naeem khan Manhattan,Ks: @Concerned Citizen: @Abrar R: @unbelievable: @Zara: @PTI Supporter: @Shahzad: @Usman lakhani: @affan dawood: @Magneto:
If there was no magnetic ink supplied then it means no balloting took place ? On this matter funniest comments are being posted. To show rest of Pakistan the way to handle this issue, PTI should undertake voluntarily this thumb impression verification in KPK at govt.expense. You will see how much magnetic ink was used there and how many impressions matched. It's in Pakistan you find one and you will get numerous hyporites.
But I know jealousy wont get quenched easily, lets have a re poll here. PTI wants more humiliation here in Karachi.
At last he beam of truth is shining through cracks in the dishonest practices of the Election Commission. MQM is as usual drooling again in stretched sentences and elongating the vocals of their words by talking about the heavens when the question is about the earth. At the end of their speeches and pronouncements one is left more confused and the issue on hand is more hazier than before. They are always hanging between clarity and the murky waters of unknown depth.
I do agree with you. But the individual who is heading a responsible position for holding the procedural part of elections is not coming out forthright with honest answers. His replies to queries are unconvincing and outright dishonest from the very outset when the elections were announced. One has to put the finger of justice on the leading individual first. @Leopard:
LOL. Namaloom votes for namaloom afraad.
LOL, it is too funny....PTI trolls are always online, sitting behind a computer, and talking a lot of garbage, but they never seem to come out on the streets of Karachi, and say these things to the face of MQM supporters or workers..........geez, I wonder why? LOL ! Nawaz Sharif said it best, "PTI is an online political party..............."
I can't believe this is even being questioned. I am a journalism major, and no one can deny MQM's large mandate in Urdu-speaking areas of Sindh. PTI, please get mature, and accept MQM's mandate, and stop blaming MQM of cheating.
PTI lafunga are so jealous that the MQM dominates urban Sindh, especially Karachi. PTI trolls, the Muhajirs will always vote MQM till their last breath. Jeeya Muhajir, Jeeya MQM.
If the ink was not magnetic then how did the votes get accepted and counted. Pakistan is surely a joke. Lay of the ink and just get a freaking electronic voting system its not complicated. That is the only way that elections are fair.
This has been already established that massive riggings has taken place in NA 256 and NA 258, the most prudent way is to have by-elections in the same constituencies. It is common knowledge that one local ethnic party was in the forefront of this rigging. Who is responsible for not using so called magnetic ink, was this ink issued to the same constituencies, ECP should make that clear. If ink was issued and it just disappeared then the polling officers should be brought to justice regardless who they are. At the end of day it is still prudent to have by elections like any other civilized nation would have done.
Its not about the magnetic ink really... NADRA cannot verify it because plastic thumb impressions (fake) were used i.e. thappa... (there are videos of numerous plastic thumb stamps that were confiscated in Karachi during election)
The other issue is that the said thappas, i.e. plastic thumb impressions were used on the counter foil and not on the ballot paper, and there is nothing to correspond each ballot paper with the counter foils, so you cant really tell for which party they were used.
Fakhru Bhai alone, or even the ECP could not do anything to stop it.
Electronic-voting with biometric verification, is the only way forward, with mass media education on how to use such e-voting machines.
@ali ahmed
Because there are idiots like you living in my city Karachi.
Wonder how they have been catching criminals the world over by using their fingerprints that they left behind. I guess that means that all criminals that were caught had dipped their thumbs in magnetic ink(approved by NADRA) and then made sure they would leave a good thumb impression at the scene of the crime. How dumb do they think we are!!!
i know patwari and ET will accuse imran khan for this act of not using magnetic ink hahahhaaahaaaa dear whats ur opinion
secretary ishtiaq ahmad is a dual standard man .now govt should need to kick out this person from ecp and make uneligible for all post
Its high time this process was computerised............if India could do it, why no us ? Maybe the answer lies in the fact they we don't want it to be a transparent process.
PTI spent Rs 25 per vote to verify 84000 votes. Who is responsible to pay 21 lakh Rupees. Why didn't they establish if ink was magnetic or not and we could have saved so much time, money and ho ha.
In fact these people are terrorists who have played havoc with this country, its nation and systems with impunity and then stand up tall to claim innocence and get rewarded instead of feeling shame and guilt. I wonder when the day will come to nab all these fraud innocents the root of all ills and to clear the nation from these off.@Magneto:
The much talked about and renowned honest,transparent Election Commissioner in whose tenure elections were held should be charged with treason along with his associates with immediate confiscation of all their properties etc. The whole elections, its results and consequent taking over of the governments proved to be farce, fraud and illegal. The SC should take notice, dismiss the government on grounds of fraud and illegality as it is not a government which people of Pakistan elected as votes on which results based turned out to be all bogus. Before ending one may recall the mammoth protests march from Lahore to Islamabad and than staging of Dharna in front of Parliament by Allama Dr Tahirul Qadri and his speeches made during the course of Dharna. Further his follow up of filing petition in Hon'ble SC and the fate it met. It all reminds us of everything in advance well smelled, fully in air and adequately forewarned which now transpired to have actually happened. The Maulana Tahirul Qadri deserves laurels for his ingenuity. @Ch. Allah Daad:
NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik ....why only Karachi?what about Lahore and Punjab.,KP,Rural Sindh..no verification?
Political pressure, hes trying to cover-up and hes making a complete fool of himself. If magnetic ink wasnt used, then how come the machine verified some 6 thousand votes as legitimate? How was the ink on them different to the ones on the other 57k?
What is really baffling is that before the election they knew this region was prone to rigging issues - what's the purpose of bringing out the military if you can't do the simple basics in managing an election. Gross negligence at a minimum but anecdotal evidence that the election was rigged - regardless - new election should take place and everyone who managed the prior election should be arrested and given their day in court.
@Arshad Khan: Why you are cursing one man. Society as whole is corrupt so aught to select or elect corrupt leaders and officers. Though I am not fan of Shaikul Islam T Qadri but his observation was correct that you can never bring changes in Pakistan with prevailing election procedure which facilitiates corrupt people to rise.
Plz put the blame of this on MQM as well Thank You
'Na-maloom ink' was used by 'na-maloon afraad'
This man Ishtiaq Ahmed is corrupt to the core. He is a manipulator and is enemy of Pakistan. The sacrosanct votes of the people have been facilitated to be stolen by people like him. He and his colleagues should be charged with treason. The Election Commission of Pakistan is infested with corruption. What is he talking about? How many versions of the election procedures are we going to hear? The ECP assured that corruption would entail and the voters will be deceived once again. Its all a joke. Pakistanis are being taken for a ride again. Shame on you.
Secretary ECP is related to Capt Safdar, the son-in-law of Mian Nawaz Sharif. They are cousins. And he is a contract employee, after retiring from the government service, where he was never the bright one. His actions, and statements, must be seen in this context.
What's not being told in the media is that which party these fake and duplicate votes relate to. I am curious to know
Fix responsibility; Secretary Election Commission should be held accountable But what about use of duplicate CNIC numbers or out of constituency CNIC....Poling officers should be held responsible
Where was NADRA and ECP on Election day? They had full powers to stop rigging. They should be charged for neglecting their national duty. These incomptent and lazy officers are on a mission to defame democracy, elections and elected representatives.
MQM, PMLN ka mandate... a joke indeed!
As the former chief minister of Balochistan said a "degree is a degree!!! " this is our good fortune, to have good "well informed" people at the helm of affairs. When we have people at the top who know nothing about nothing, does it really make a difference whether MQM or PTI or PPP or some other party comes to power, when people are so naive as they are in Pakistan, they simply suffer.
Like seriously?
One way or the other, this has shown us the 85% Mandate of a party.
Ignoring votes that Nadra could not verify due to ink issues, around 90% of the verified votes were fake! Which interestingly corresponds to the number of seats "won" by a "political party" in Karachi!
Whose responsibility was it to have the proper magnetic ink ??? This is indeed SHARMNAK by ECP
And who is responsible for that Mr. Chairman?? You mean i can bring my ink & cast bogus votes and you are going to validate those for me!!! So much for free & fair elections!!