Round two: PML-Q’s Cheema takes the lead in PP-97 re-polls

A tribunal had declared 2013 election result void

GUJRANAWALA:

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Nasir Cheema took the lead in re-elections in 33 polling stations of PP-97 on Sunday with 27,529 votes.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Ashraf Warraich stood second with 26,216 votes.

Polling began at 8am and ended at 4pm with around 52,550 registered voters.

PML-N’s Ashraf Warraich and PML-Q’s Nasir Cheema, endorsed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), were the main contenders.

Some 1,000 security officials were deployed for re-polling.

Cheema’s supporters claimed pre-poll rigging, saying four polling stations in Ghakkar had been moved at the last minute. In Qila Deedar Singh, several supporters of Warraich were arrested for displaying weapons.

Earlier, an election tribunal had declared the  elections null and void and ordered re-polling at 33 polling stations.

The tribunal had issued the order on a petition filed by Cheema who said Warraich had rigged the polls.

Cheema had alleged that Warraich had managed to cast 15,000 bogus votes in his favour.

The 33 polling stations in Ghakkhar Town and Qila Dedar Singh were the focus of the re-polls.

Cheema, who had switched over to the PTI from the PML-Q, appeared a stronger candidate after had had organised several public meetings addressed by Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmad.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, were also backing Cheema.

In a congratulations message, PTI district leader Qasim Akram said the result had showed that the PML-N’s was losing favour with the people. “When you win an election through rigging, you can only fool the people for so long,” he said.

He said Warraich’s supporters had deserted him because he had ignored them during his tenure. “Warraich rigged the elections to win but he had a chance to impress the voters. He failed.”

He said the people of PP-97 had shown confidence in Cheema who had been a popular candidate even during the May 2013 elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2015.