PML-N Leadership Alleges Rigging in NA-75 Polling: Demands Re-Election
In the aftermath of polling marred by violence and allegations of rigging, Maryam Nawaz Sharif has called the results of by-elections in the NA-75 (Daska) into question at a press conference in Lahore today. The PML-N leader blamed the ruling PTI for the rigging and called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against those responsible, as well as arrange for a re-election in that constituency.
Earlier, Maryam Nawaz Sharif had shared startling videos of what she alleges were perpetrators of “rigging” in the polling for NA-75. Her allegations include that ECP officials were “abducted” and that results from various polling stations were tampered with overnight.
On Friday night, as polling drew to a close in NA-75, social media remained abuzz with claims of rigging, which included the unexplained absence of several polling staff for hours – during which they could neither be located physically nor reached by phone.
For its part, the ECP stated that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) had asked the IGP Punjab, Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner about the whereabouts of the polling staff who could not be located. It was only early in the morning of Saturday that the relevant staff re-emerged with their respective polling bags.
The PML-N’s candidate from NA-75, Nosheen Iftikhar, had asked the CEC to withhold results from the disputed by-election. Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz Sharif has promised to visit the families of political activists who lost their lives in violent clashes related to the polling process.
No doubt, not even iota, elections were rigged.