JUI-F holds sit-ins on multiple roads in Sindh as protests continue against alleged rigging

HYDERABAD: Various political parties held protests in Hyderabad on Sunday against what they termed massive post-poll rigging in the general elections.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl also joined the protesting parties and held sit-ins in Hyderabad as well as other districts. The JUI-F held sit-ins at 10am in the morning on several roads of various cities, including Wadhu Wah Bypass, Jamshoro Indus Highway and Matiari National Highway. The sit-ins ended at 6pm in the evening.

The JUI-F provincial leader, Rashid Mehmood Soomro, addressed the sit-in at the Wadhu Wah Bypass. He claimed that the mobile phone network was shut down on the day of the polling so that no one could tell anything to anyone about the rigging.

He stated all the Form 45 were available with the party and according to the Form 45, the Pakistan Peoples Party had lost PS-22 Panu Aqil and NA-191 Kashmore.

Announcing the future action plan of the JUI-F, he said demonstrations would be held in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s offices in various districts on Monday (today) and in front of press clubs on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Meanwhile, Abdul Jabbar Khan, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate for PS-62 held a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club against what he termed rigging.

He said there were 133 polling stations in the constituency, the Form 45 of which were available. He claimed that he had polled 22,395 votes and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidate Owais Khan had polled 18,980 votes. He said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Sabir Hussain only bagged 15,385 votes but the returning officer declared him the winner, however, he came third.

Khan said the Provincial Election Commissioner should take notice of the rigging and stop the results of PS-62. Workers of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also protested against the election results in Hyderabad on Sunday and shouted slogans outside the press club.

Addressing the protest, JI leader Hafiz Tahir Majeed said several hours had passed since the elections, but the entire Pakistan had taken to the streets against the results as the results of Form 45 were different from the results of Form 47.

After the protest, Faisal Mughal, the PTI-backed candidate for NA-220 and PTI leader Noorul Haq Qureshi held a joint press conference at the press club and said a presiding officer was caught red-handed cheating in Latifabad. There were also videos of ballot papers snatching and theft of election materials, they said.

They said that by manipulating Form 45, the successful candidate was defeated, and others were made successful. Independent candidate from NA-219 Dr Mustanasir Ballah had actually polled 53,278 votes, but his votes were reduced in the result, they claimed.

Qureshi said it was clearly written in the rules that the candidates had to sit together while making the final results. He said Naeemuddin got more than 14,000 votes in PS-64, but the results were changed. It seemed Hyderabad would be handed over to terrorists once again, he added.

He was of the view that despite fascist tactics, people reposed their trust in the PTI whose activists protesting outside public schools were also attacked. He said he would approach the courts on Monday against the rigging as the PTI's mandate had been stolen from many constituencies.