Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that the alleged rigging in the Daska by-polls has “lifted the curtain from many secrets”, adding that it was necessary to get to the bottom of this investigation.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday had declared a last week’s by-election for a National Assembly (NA) seat in a Sialkot constituency — a seat in Daska Tehsil of the city which fell vacant after the demise of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP Sahibazada Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah in August — as null and void and ordered the government to hold re-election on March 18.
In a press statement, the ECP had said it had suspected that the results of 20 polling stations in the constituency had been falsified because it received the results of the constituency with “unnecessary delay”.
A short verdict, announced on an application of PML-N candidate Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, had ordered re-election in the constituency because “conducive environment was not available for the candidates and voters and the election had not been conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in a transparent manner.”
The order had been issued using the powers conferred on the ECP under Article 218 (3) of the Constitution and Article 19 (1) of the Election Act, 2017. A detailed verdict will be issued later, the commission had said.
Today, during a live video on his Twitter account, the PML-N supreme leader stressed that it was of the utmost importance that the person responsible for the chaos during the Daska by-polls be found out.
“It is much more necessary to get to the bottom of this investigation than the by-election in Daska on March 18,” he maintained.
Nawaz added that the events in the by-polls had “lifted the curtain from many secrets” and were “evidence” that rigging had occurred in the 2018 general elections.
“I have already told you that when election results stop coming in and there is a delay […] then understand that your vote is being stolen somewhere and put into another box,” he said.
Nawaz called upon the public to find those trying to steal the people’s mandate. He promised them in the video that he would not let the vote thieves escape.
“Our request is that the nation sees implementation on these punishments as soon as possible.”
