Losing candidates seek recounting on PK-115

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) losing candidate for PK-115 Abidur Rehman on Saturday asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct recounting in the entire constituency instead of 16 polling stations.

Speaking at a news conference here on Saturday, he said that he had requested the returning officer to recount the votes of the entire constituency but he ordered recounting at 16 polling stations only.

A number of his supporters were also present on the occasion. Abidur Rehman recalled that when he was given form 47 after getting election results from all polling stations, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Mohammad Shoaib was leading with 74 votes but after recounting of only 16 polling stations, the number had come down to 30.

He said that the number of rejected votes remained the same but the returning officer rejected his demand to show them the votes. He said it was astonishing that the RO told them he could not show them the rejected votes but could recount them.

He pointed out the district returning officer was also sitting with the RO during the recounting, which he said was against the law. “We demand recounting at all the polling stations,” he said and vowed to move the Supreme Court if justice was not provided to him. He rejected the notion that the PTI government interfered in the election to favour its candidates. He said the situation would have been different if his party’s government had interfered.

It may be recalled that PK-115 comprising on former frontier regions had 163 polling stations and the candidates of the major political parties and independents took part in the first ever election for provincial assembly. PTI’s Abidur Rehman had got 18028 votes while JUI-F’s Mohammad Shoaib obtained 18102.