Daily Times

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has resented alleged rigging in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government elections and blamed the ruling PTI for it.

The first phase of local government elections took place in its 17 districts of KP on Sunday. The polls will be held in the rest of KP next month. Polling started at 8am and continued till 5pm. Taking to Twitter, Bilawal said the ruling party was resorting to violence and rigging and trying to undermine the people’s choice.

Referring to the fatal attack on ANP candidate in Dera Ismail Khan Saturday night, he alleged that the incident was also part of a series of events that emerged before and during the ballot. He said the deceased candidate’s family had accused a PTI minister of trying to bribe him [candidate] and later killing him.

Bilawal linked the incident to that of the alleged pre-poll rigging that was reported from Peshawar’s neighbourhood council 34 on Saturday night and reports of polling stations being attacked during the voting process on Sunday. “In Peshawar, PTI people were caught red-handed stamping ballot papers the night before polling.

All day, there have been reports of PTI [members] ransacking polling stations attacking polling staff including women,” he wrote. He said the ruling party had taken rigging to a new level, which showed the “desperation and unpopularity” of the government. “This is what a desperately unpopular government looks like.” Bilawal called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against the alleged rigging and ensure free and fair elections.

He also urged the people of KP to come in large numbers to use their right to vote instead of getting dissuaded by the “PTI’s tactics”, and requested the PPP workers to report violations to the party’s election cells or directly to the ECP.

A presiding officer deputed at a women’s polling station in Peshawar was arrested along with her husband over allegations of rigging long before the polling for the ongoing local government election started.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said the opposition was playing tricks to allay their fears of failure in the election. He said the entire polling staff was deputed at the behest of the ECP.