Call for probe into more discarded ballot papers

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) investigate into the discovery of more discarded ballot papers, this time at a public school in Gizri.

Previously, discarded ballot papers were found in a garbage dump in Qayyumabad, which falls under the National Assembly constituency NA-241 (Korangi-III), where a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate was declared winner. The PPP’s local candidates had reported the incident to the ECP, which sent relevant officials to the site to investigate.

The latest discovery pertains to NA-247 (South-II) and the provincial assembly constituency PS-111 (South-V). PTI candidates Dr Arif Alvi and Imran Ismail won the NA-247 and PS-111 seats respectively.

PPP Karachi President Saeed Ghani and the party’s PS-111 candidate Barrister Murtaza Wahab inspected the school where the discarded ballot papers were found. They informed the media that 154 ballot papers were found, and that 118 of them were stamped in favour of the PPP.

Ghani expressed surprise that the ballot papers were discarded at the school that was used as a polling station despite stringent security measures in place for the July 25 general elections. He demanded that the ECP thoroughly investigate the incident. He also demanded re-election in the constituencies where discarded ballot papers have been found.