Protest held against alleged rigging in KP, Balochistan, Sindh

PESHAWAR: Protests were staged by different parties in KP, Balochistan and Sindh on the election vote rigging allegations Wednesday.

Keeping the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway closed for traffic for four days, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers on Wednesday sealed Peshawar city by blocking the Ring Road and key routes of the city for vehicular movement against what they called “rigging in the recent general elections in Peshawar”.

The PTI workers had launched a protest following the February 8 elections when some of their leaders lost their seats. PTI’s candidates, including former deputy speaker provincial assembly Mehmood Jan lost his PK72 seat, Ali Zaman PK73, two-time former MPA Arbab Jehandad lost PK74, ex-district nazim Mohammad Asim Khan PK-78, former finance and health minister Taimur Khan Jhagra PK-79, former MNA Hamidul Haq PK80, former higher education minister Kamran Khan Bangash PK-82 and Sajid Nawaz Khan NA-28.

All the PTI candidates had claimed victory against their opponents in the elections citing forms 45, accusing the district returning officer (DRO), Peshawar, and returning officers (ROs) of rigging the election and declaring them losers in forms 47.

“I am not alone, they stole mandate of people of eight constituencies in Peshawar. This is a joke with the public mandate and we will not remain silent about this injustice,” Taimur Jhagra told the PTI protesters in Peshawar. He said the mandate of people had been stolen.

Jhagra alleged the PDM government and later the caretaker setup used the state machinery against them so they could not contest elections and run their campaigns.

Another former minister, Kamran Bangash, said he had polled the highest number of votes in his constituency as per form 45 but was declared a loser.

Former district nazim, Mohammad Asim Khan, said it never happened in the past that successful candidates were denied victory. “We will continue our legal battle and peaceful protest against this rigging. We were declared successful according to forms 45 which are available and we submitted in the court, election commission Islamabad and RO office,” he said.

Previously, the PTI workers staged a protest on the toll plaza of Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway and kept it closed for traffic for four days but today they brought agitation to the city and blocked major roads and squares of Peshawar’s Ring Road.

The protests created serious hardships to people and caused severe traffic jams in the city as well as on the Ring Road. “I have taken my mother to a doctor in Peshawar and was returning home at 9pm but was shocked when found that the motorway has been closed. There were some ambulances requesting the protesters to let them go but they refused,” said Aamir Sohail. He said it was late for him to return home by the broken GT Road and preferred to spend the night in Peshawar. “There were hundreds of other vehicles desperately waiting for the motorway to be opened so they could continue their journey,” he said.

Meanwhile, ANP has announced kicking off its nationwide protests against alleged alteration in the general election results from February 20.

The party, which failed to win any National Assembly seat and only secured two Balochistan Assembly seats and one KP provincial seat, will start its protests from Swabi district which will be followed by another demonstration on February 23 in Charsadda.

Meanwhile, protests are going on in Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) against alleged rigging in general elections.

The PTI, JUI-F, and other political parties are staging protests in different cities against the results of the general elections 2024, reported the local media on Wednesday. In Quetta, workers of National Party, Hazara Democratic Party and Balochistan National Party demonstrated outside the district returning officer’s office, while roads across the provincial capital, Chaman, Killa Saifullah, Loralai and Pishin were blocked due to the ongoing protests.

As a result, land communication of Balochistan with Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was cut off. Meanwhile, PPP continued its sit-in in Naseerabad for the sixth day.