MQM-P terms elections ‘worst rigged in the history of Pakistan’

With the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan facing a surprising upset in its bastion after more than three decades, Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has termed Wednesday’s general elections “the worst rigged polls in the history of Pakistan”.

A traditional mandate keeper of Karachi, the MQM-P has arguably suffered the greatest defeat of its time. According to the results available so far, it has secured only four National Assembly seats, contrary to its position in the 2013 elections with 17 seats.

Siddiqui demanded an immediate resignation from the chief election commissioner while addressing a press conference at the party’s Bahadurabad headquarters on Thursday.

According to the MQM-P leader, only one community – the Muhajirs – was targeted in the alleged rigging process and their mandate was snatched to be handed over to “outsiders”.

Siddiqui addressed the press conference flanked by senior party leadership, including Farooq Sattar and Faisal Subzwari. It was the first media appearance of the party’s top tier leadership after the polls.

The MQM-P convener said that although the polling process remained peaceful and apparently transparent during the day, the alleged rigging occurred after 6pm when the counting of votes began.

He shared the same concerns as of other parties that the polling agents were forced out of the stations during or before counting. “We are the witness of the rigging,” he said, questioning why the results of Karachi constituencies were withheld and not been given as yet. “It is a robbery of urban Sindh’s mandate and we reject these results.”

Siddiqui felicitated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan for his party’s victory across the country. As per the results so far, PTI seems to be in a position to make the next government and nominate Khan as the prime minister. It has also become the largest political party in the city.

MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar, who lost to PTI in both constituencies he was contesting from, said that the rigging was finely done and it started only after the polling ended. “They did post-poll rigging according to their strategy,” he claimed.

Sattar said the results were unacceptable as the presiding officers did not issue Form 45 – the statement of vote count carrying details of the total votes counted for the respective candidates – to the contestants. He claimed that “the available results were not of the voting but of the setting that the power players are making”.

Post-poll statements

The MQM-P is among the various political parties that began levelling allegations of irregularities and possible rigging on Wednesday night as the polling closed and counting began.

In a hurried press conference a few hours after the counting began, Faisal Subzwari alleged that the party’s polling agents had been thrown out during the vote count from polling stations and officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan had refused to hand over the final results to the party representatives.

“We reserve the right to protest if we are not handed over the final results of the polling stations from the election commission staffers,” he said.

Subzwari alleged that the MQM-P’s representatives were thrown out from NA-249’s Salahuddin School polling station 89, and from a polling station in Gulzar-e-Hijri, Metroville. “Our voters came out today even after facing pre-poll rigging in the face of delimitation.”

The MQM-P leader raised questions over the competence of the ECP in holding transparent and non-controversial polls. He said that at the eleventh hour, constituencies were changed of a number of voters living in District Central of the metropolis and were shifted to other districts.

The Pak Sarzameen Party also complained about the same thing. Speaking to journalists, PSP leader Raza Haroon said that political agents were not being given attested copies of the results at political stations. “Whatever is happening has never happened before.” Haroon shared that the political agents expelled from polling stations were told to get the results from the returning officers. He said the results o a plain piece of paper meant nothing.