Haider Hoti says KP govt in bid to manipulate LG polls

NOWSHERA: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti Monday alleged that the provincial government was trying to manipulate the local government elections.
Speaking at separate public meeting here, he lamented that the ANP leaders had time and again requested the Election Commission to take note of the activities of the government ministers but to no avail. “The provincial government is announcing various development projects and issuing tenders which is a sheer violation of the code of conduct for election,” he added.
The nationalist leader said that the ANP would not accept the announcement of the results of the local government polls after a week or 10 days time. “It will be deemed as an attempt to change the results in favour of government candidates,” he alleged.
The former chief minister said that the provincial government had failed to come up to the expectations of the masses and the popularity graph of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had declined. He said the decline can be judged from the recently held Cantonment Board Elections.
Haider Hoti said that it was premature to say that the PTI would sweep the polls. “I would not claim that the ANP would sweep the elections but the popularity graph of the party has gone up in the by-polls on the provincial assembly constituency PK-95 in Lower Dir district and Cantonment Boards elections,” he added.
He hoped that ANP would offer tough resistance to its opponents. He said that the ANP stance on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was crystal clear.He said his party chief Asfandyar Wali had convened two All Parties Conferences on the issue to discuss the matter and create consensus over the project. He said it was the responsibility of the provincial government to raise voice for the rights of the province.