Elections 2018: PPP may ask for recount in all seats with 5pc difference, says Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said on Tuesday the PPP will consider going to the ECP for recounting on all seats from 2018 onwards where the difference between the votes of the winners and losers was just 5 percent. He was reacting to the ECP’s decision of re-counting in the NA-249 bypolls.

Reacting through his twitter account on Tuesday, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto tweeted: “PPP welcomes new precedent set by allowing constituency wide recount without specific polling station complaints.” He complained that election results of many seats from 2018 fell within 5pc threshold, but candidates were not given a chance, but with the new ECP order the PPP will consider approaching ECP for recounts on all such seats.

On the other hand, Vice President PML-N Maryam Nawaz Sharif appreciated Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s tweet regarding their decision of reconsidering recounts in seats falling within 5 percent threshold during the 2018 elections by tweeting: “Thank u PPP for the kind suggestion.” Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted that asking the ECP for a recount on 2018 seats will be a windfall for PML-N because the PML-N will be the beneficiary now, as it was the prime victim of DHANDLI (Rigging) then. She said it will enable the PML-N to win all it seats it lost to rigging by a margin of a few hundred votes. “Thank u PPP for the kind suggestion,” she tweets.

Earlier, praising the Election Commission of Pakistan decision, Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted: “Alhamdolillah we got recount and we hope to win Insha’Allah but even if we don’t, we will not relent and try all we can till we get our stolen votes and seat back.” She stated that they will fight tooth and nail for the right of people of NA 249.

While responding to the tweet of senior journalist of The News and Geo News Zahid Gishkori, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted that if rigging was caught either in recounting or after, it will be exposed because rigging could not be hidden. “Unless and until the people of NA-249 could not get their right back, we will not sit idle as it is question of respect of vote of people not a joke,” she tweeted.

In the meanwhile, Central Secretary Information PPP Faisal Karim Kundi, while welcoming the decision of the Election Commission, said the applications by PPP candidates for recount have also been pending for two and a half years without recount. He said that now it is hoped that the Election Commission will also consider them for recounting. Kundi asked that if there was rigging in NA-249, then why was no complaint was lodged with the Election Commission during the polling. He said that the decision of the Election Commission to recount NA-249 without any evidence of wrongdoing was shocking. “If recounts are possible in NA-249 without evidence of fraud, then it will be used as an example in every election,” he said.

He also termed the demand for inviting the army to intervene after the defeat in the Karachi by-elections, as regrettable.