SHEIKHUPURA, Dec 17: Balloting at a polling station in Kala Shah Kaku, falling in NA-132 where bypoll was held on Saturday, was suspended after over 50 gunmen held Election Commission staff hostage and stuffed 600 ballots in favour of official nominee.
Police said the armed men barged into the polling station No 171 soon after the visit of acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. They held the EC staff, including the presiding officer, hostage and snatched seven ballot paper books. They stamped 600 ballots reportedly in favour of ruling party candidate Mehar Shahid Manzoor Gill.
The Ferozewala police registered a case against the intruders on the complaint of Jamshid Mubarak Bhatti, the returning officer. Police later arrested 12 of the intruders.
Sheikhupura assistant election commissioner Majid Sharif Dogar said polling (at the said polling station) had been suspended and repoll date would be announced later.
Meanwhile, unofficial results from 117 of 258 polling station falling in NA-132 suggested that PML’s Mehar Shahid Manzoor Gill was comfortably placed against MMA’s Ghulam Hussain Kamboh and PML-N’s Mian Ghulam Shabbir Qadri Sharqpuri.
The opposition candidates alleged vote fraud at all polling stations. Ghulam Hussain termed the exercise selection rather than election. The election staff at the polling station 171 has meanwhile been charged with negligence by the EC.
SARGODHA: A low turnout was reported in the byelection to the NA-64 and PP-33 seats and at Hathiwind village polling station 101 on Saturday.
In polling station No 170, Bhalwal, only 124 out of the 1,085 voters cast their votes. Of the 960 woman voters, some 25 exercised their right. A similar position was reported in all other polling stations where hardly 20 per cent votes were cast.
The polling was generally peaceful, except few incidents of scuffles between the ruling party and the JI-cum-PML-N activists.
In a Bhera NA-64 polling station, PML-backed Sheikh Haroon Ehsan Piracha’s uncle Anwarul Haq Piracha was humiliated by the activists of the Jamaat-i-Islami, headed by Muhammad Inayat. Later, Inayat was reportedly thrashed by the supporters of Mr Piracha. Police did not register a case till last reports came in.
The seat was vacated by Inamul Haq Piracha, who was elected district nazim. The constituency is considered to be the stronghold of the Pirachas.
In a PP-33 polling station, a scuffle was reported between two rival groups in which three people were injured. The clash started when Tasawur was held by the PML-N activists for casting bogus vote.
At another polling station, Muhammad Akbar was held with 16 bogus votes.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar told journalists at the circuit house that he visited various polling stations. He said a low turnout was reported in the morning session, but expressed satisfaction over the security and other arrangements.
Answering a question, he said the elections for district naib nazim would be held in the last week of December and it would be conducted by show of hands as suggested by the Punjab government. He admitted that some complaints about the list of voters were received and the election commission had decided to remove all the blemishes. A fresh computerized list of voters would be prepared for the 2007 general elections.
Responding to another question, he said the premier and chief ministers were holding offices in political parties and, therefore, they could participate in the election campaign of respective nominees.
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