PPP welcomes ECP decision on Karachi polls

Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians Secretary General, Senator Farhatullah Babar and Pakistan People’s Party Secretary General, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari have said that the Election Commission has decided a recount in constituency NA-249 at the request of PML-N in the by-elections and the PPP welcomes this decision.

Farhatullah Babar said that the PPP wants to put forward some important points about the by-election of NA-249. The Election Commission has decided to recount at the request of PML-N. This is their right. We welcome it and want to see the Election Commission of Pakistan strong. Same was said in the 2018 elections that where the winning margin was less than 5%, it should have been recounted. The recount was to be held in 34 constituencies which were not conducted. Only the recount of two constituencies started and was stopped and never completed.

He said that this constituency NA-249 was not new to the PPP. The PPP candidate from this constituency had also won in the 1988 elections. The PPP does not have a large majority of votes in this constituency but we have considerable support for the PPP. The PPP has shown groundwork, activism and has now won.

He said that only the Election Commission could explain the reason for the delay in the counting process but there were 30 candidates and eight election observers who had to be given the Form 45 during Ramadan. For this exercise, the Election Commission has to fill 10-12 forms. Farhatullah Babar said that if we had lost this election, we would never have had raised this issue. We believe in election laws. He said that in the recount, the votes of PPP may increase. He said to the PML-N that you must go to the Election Commission but do not say that the PPP has come through the help of the establishment. Our movement is against Imran Khan and not the opposition.

Farhatullah Babar said that the internet is being tampered with in the name of security in Pakistan. Electronic voting will be more dangerous here. The countries that started it have also given up on using electronic voting machines. He said that this government is not serious about negotiating with the opposition. They are incompetent.

In response to a question, Farhatullah Babar said that the internet is being tampered with in the name of security every day in Pakistan. Many of the countries that started this experiment gave up and Imran Khan should know that there is a report by NADRA about EVM. He said that the PPP made the PDM, who are these people who are talking about us approaching them to rejoin the PDM, instead they should come to us, take back the show cause notice and apologize to us.

Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said that the ground realities are very clear. PPP candidate has been present in this constituency. Qadir Mandokhel is a political activist. He has experimented with other political parties in the past like PML-N and PTI. PTI had introduced a technocrat Hafeez Sheikh who lost the Senate election. In NA-249 the PML-N introduced another technocrat, Miftah Ismail who also lost.

Before this, the role of the PTI candidate in this constituency was also in front of everyone who used to bring shoes and put them on the table and sometimes came with pistols. Nayyar Bukhari said that unemployment and lawlessness has increased in the country. We believe that the Election Commission will take decisions according to the law. Bukhari said that the PML-N harmed the PDM. The PPP was ready for a long march and no-confidence motion against the government.