KARACHI - The PTI on Wednesday claimed to have won a dozen National Assembly seats from Karachi amidst the other parties criticizing the Election Commission of Pakistan for not allowing their respective political agents to witness the vote counts.
Amidst the allegations from the parties of sending their political agents out of the polling stations at the time of vote counting, various journalist bodies also claimed lack of access to the polling centres. PTI claimed victory on more than a dozen seats of National Assembly while denying having official or unofficial results from Election Commission.
Majority of the seats claimed by the PTI were also claimed by MQM-P. The PTI was leading with a majority of votes in at least 12 of National Assembly Karachi seats as per the counts received to PTI Central Election Cell, said PTI Karachi spokesman while talking to The Nation.
He said that it was yet to receive the original counts of votes but so far the PTI was in the leading position in NA-240, NA-241, NA-242, NA-243, NA-244, NA-247, NA-249, NA-251, NA-253, NA-254, NA-255 and NA-256.
On National Assembly Constituency NA-243 which became a hotcake for both the MQM and PTI is being led by Imran Ahmad Khan as per the unofficial results of seven polling stations. Khan is leading with 3296 votes while MQM`s Ali Raza is on second position with 1300 votes, he added.
On the other hand, MQM-Pakistan claimed to mark victory on the same seats, and said that the polls were manipulated at the instant when process of vote count was initiated. Parties’ agents were stopped to participate in the counting process.
It said that a leading position was being given to a specific party (PTI) supported by unseen force by airing imaginary results.
“How can any TV channel air election results on the basis of just a few number of polling stations’ vote counts we have not received the unofficial counts of votes till now, “ MQM`s Ameenul Haq.
Similarly, sources in Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) claimed to have won National Assembly seats including NA-246, NA-248, NA-236, NA-237 and NA-238 but, it said, the results of the constituencies kept in the custody of the Election Commission staffers.
It’s worth mentioning here that political agents representing different political parities, journalists and observers were not allowed by the staff of the Election Commission during counting process. Following the restrictions, unofficial and official results of each constituency were allegedly kept in dark.
As per the unofficial results prepared on the vote counts of a few polling stations, PTI and MQM-P are seen neck and neck while on some of the seats it was witnessed on leading position.
However, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) led by former Mustafa despite claim to sweep all constituencies of Karachi failed to show any noteworthy success. MQM-P is on the Karachi election turf for the first time without support of its founder Altaf Hussain.
It managed to secure a few in National Assembly seats along with some victory on provincial assembly seats.
Moreover, as per the unofficial results of 73 out of 197 polling stations of NA-236, PPP`s Jam Abdul Karim is leading with 28,722 votes while PTI`s Dr Masroor Siyal is second with 8954 votes. In NA-240 MQM`s Iqbal Muhammad Ali is leading with 42580 votes.
PTI`s Farrukh Mansoor is second with 2015 votes and MQM-Haqqiqi`s Afaq Ahmed is on third with 1200 votes.
NA-243 considered to be the hot seat of Karachi was showing lead of PTI`s Imran Ahmad Khan with 3296votes. Here Ali Raza Abidi is second with 1300 votes as per the results of seven polling stations of the constituency.
MQM`s Dr Farooq Sattar was also seen leading with 2557 votes in NA-245 while PTI`s Amir Liaquat is behind with 1129 votes. In NA-246 PPP`s Bilawal Bhutto is in lead with 1754 votes while the opponents PTI`s candidate is on second. The results of NA-249 carried votes counts of 27 out of 257 polling stations shows the lead of PML-Nawaz`s Shahbaz Sharif with 3400 votes, PTI`s Faisal Vawda is on second position with 2555 votes.
At 10:00pm, multiple political parties including PPPP, MQM-Pakistan, MMA, PSP leadership showing displeasure over the election process criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Parties’ leaders talking to the media men separately complained that polling agents were thrown out from the polling station and were not provided with Form-45.
All the parties adopted the same stance and claimed that their parties polling agents were not even allowed to remain inside the polling station during the counting process.
Providing extraordinary space to a specific party during the election process had placed a big question mark on the transparency of polls, they alleged. Worth mentioning here that as per law, the political agents must be provided with From-45-hard copy that contains the final vote count of the polling stations.
Talking to The Nation, PPP Election Cell Incharge Taj Haider said that they had not received even a single constituency result from their polling agents across the Sindh province including on constituencies where top party leaders contested the polls.
“How could I share any unofficial results when my polling agents are forced out from the polling stations across the province without giving the consolidated result in the face of form 45,” he said.
He citied PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto as saying that ECP was not giving the election results despite late in the night. “Even results of constituencies where I am contesting were not given to me,” he said.
He added that his candidates were complaining that their polling agents were being thrown out and such acts are unforgiveable.
