Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Vice President Maryam Nawaz have accused the ruling Sindh party Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), without taking its name, of stealing “few hundred votes” to defeat Miftah Ismail in the NA-249 by-election in Karachi.
PPP candidate Qadir Khan Mandokhail bagged seat securing 16,156 votes — a few hundred votes more than Miftah Ismail who came in second with 15,473 votes. The banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) candidate Nazeer Ahmed Kamalvi got 11,125 votes, securing the third spot.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal got 9,227 votes, while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Amjad Afridi could only manage to grab the fifth spot with 8,922 votes.
The Karachi seat fell vacant after PTI leader Faisal Vawda, who was facing a disqualification case, resigned from the National Assembly to become a senator.
Reacting to the victory of the PPP leader, Shehbaz Sharif said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should play its role of ensuring a transparent polls. According to Shehbaz, the entire country saw how Miftah Ismail, who was leading in the polls, was defeated through rigging.
Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N vice president, said the election was “stolen from PML-N by only a few hundred votes”. She demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) must withhold the “results of one of the most disputed and controversial elections”.
