Clifton poll results prove right notion of rigging in 2018 election: Bilawal

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has congratulated the ticket holders of the party and other PPP-backed independent candidates who secured victory in the countrywide cantonment elections held the other day.

In his message on Monday, he said the PPP candidates had either secured victories or remained runner-up in the polls held in the country, from Karachi to Peshawar and up to Abbottabad.

He said the PPP had emerged as the runner-up in the elections held in Peshawar cantonment areas that were otherwise considered a stronghold of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He said the PPP candidate had emerged victorious in faraway cantonment areas of the country as like Abbottabad Cantt, showing that the philosophy of Bhuttoism had been gaining popularity in the country.

He said that his party did have reservations that the PPP’s candidates were not able to secure victories in the polls held in Okara, Kohat and Pano Aqil cantonments with a razor-thin margin of votes.

He said the PPP candidates who emerged successful in the cantonment polls in the country deserved accolades and appreciation. He recalled that the PPP previously had been able to secure just three seats in Karachi’s cantonment elections, but the party had now secured 11 seats in the provincial capital.

He said the PPP was the only political party that had secured seats in all cantonments of Karachi. Bilawal mentioned that the PPP had secured the maximum number of popular votes in the cantonment elections in Karachi as compared to any other contesting parties.

He said the PPP had gained maximum number of votes in the Clifton Cantonment’s polls that was otherwise considered as the “Home ground” for the PTI. He said the PPP had emerged victorious in the Clifton Cantt areas where in the past the incumbent president and the Sindh Governor had got elected, and this latest poll achievement of the PPP had proven right its reservations that rigging had been committed in the 2018 general elections in the country.

PPP got most votes

Sindh Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani has said the Pakistan Peoples Party has secured the most number of votes, as compared to the other contesting political parties, in the cantonment elections held in Karachi on Sunday, indicating that the PPP had become the largest political party of the city.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Ghani, who is also the PPP Karachi chapter president, said his party had emerged as the biggest political party of Karachi as it had secured the largest number of votes in the elections held in the six cantonments of the city as compared to any other contesting party.

He said the PPP was the only political party of Karachi that had secured seats in all the six cantonments. He said 11 ticket holders of the PPP had emerged victorious, while there were three candidates who had lost the elections with a razor- thin margin.

Ghani said the PPP would apply for recounting the votes polled in such cantonment wards as the number of rejected votes ranged between 12 and 16. He said there were 39 candidates of the PPP in the run in Karachi, and they collectively polled 22,135 votes that were more than the combined tally of the votes secured by the candidates of any other contesting party.

He said the PTI had 42 candidates in the run in the cantonment elections, and their combined vote count was 19,483 votes, followed by the Jamaat-e-Islami securing 16,422 votes, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan was able to secure 10,790 votes.

He said the PPP was able to secure four seats in in the Clifton Cantonment Board whose areas were otherwise traditionally considered a stronghold of the PTI. He said the PTI and the JI had secured two seats each in the CBC polls, while two independent candidates also won there.

Ghani said the PPP candidates in the CBC had been able to secure a total of 9,331 votes, while the JI got 6,254 votes. He noted that PTI stood third with 5,079 votes. He said the PTI had showed such dismal performance in the CBC elections despite the fact that the incumbent president of Pakistan and the Sindh governor, who were associated with the PTI, had got elected in the past from the constituencies covering the Clifton Cantonment areas.

He said the results of the latest cantonment elections had showed that the residents of the city had appreciated the development projects undertaken by the Sindh government in the provincial capital.