ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulator announced the first two official results of national polls late Thursday night, after polls were marred by rigging allegations and suspension of communication services throughout the day as millions voted in the South Asian country.
Counting of millions of votes began after polling closed at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday evening. However, mobile services remained suspended from 08:00 a.m. till 3:00 a.m. with Pakistan’s interior ministry saying it opted for the blockade to ensure the security of polling stations. At least 28 people were killed in two explosions near election offices in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s election regulator did not announce any official results of the elections after over nine hours passed since voting closed. This was an unusual delay in announcing results compared to previous polls in the country.
ECP’s Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal announced the first two results of the national elections, both for provincial seats in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Independent candidates, backed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, won both constituencies. In PK-76 Peshawar V, independent candidate Samiullah Khan won after securing 18,888 votes. In the other PK-6 Swat constituency, another independent candidate, Fazal Hakeem Khan, secured the victory after bagging 25,330 votes.
“These [results] are coming in, and as they come, we will continue to inform you,” Iqbal told reporters at a short media briefing. When asked why the results had been delayed, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) official said it was due to suspension of Internet services across the country.
The results were announced amid allegations of rigging levelled by the PTI, whose chairman Gohar Khan claimed that the party would form its government at the center and in provinces “with a two-thirds majority.”
“I strictly warn all returning officers not to try to tamper or rig the election results,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Former prime minister Imran Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, has accused Pakistan’s powerful military of colluding with his political rivals to keep him and his party away from national elections. The cricketer-turned-politician is in jail since August after being convicted on graft allegations and last week, was handed multiple jail sentences on charges ranging from corruption to leaking state secrets. Pakistan’s military denies Khan’s allegations and that it interferes in political matters.
The PTI said in an earlier statement its polling agents were not provided Form 45, an essential document prepared by returning officers that contains information about the total number of registered voters, total votes cast, and a detailed breakdown of votes received by each candidate of a constituency.
“After the whole system has been sent in panic mode by #MassiveTurnout for PTI, they have stopped the results and now filling alternate Form 45,” the party claimed on social media platform X. “Pakistanis, protect your vote by going back to polling stations to get results before they change the results.”
Rigging allegations were also levelled by candidates of other political parties. In Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Saeed Ghani uploaded a video message on social media platform X, alleging ballot papers were snatched by Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate Irfanullah Marwat’s supporters in PS-105 constituency.
Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal wrote a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in which he alleged the station house officer of Quetta had “taken 900 votes.”
Former lawmaker Mohsin Dawar wrote on X that “large-scale rigging” was underway in his NA-40 constituency in the North Waziristan tribal district. “Presiding officers are giving away voting books like peanuts,” he said. “@ECP_Pakistan has failed to take notice.”
The head of Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Karachi chapter, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, said in a video message that polling stations were “handed over” to supporters of his rival party, the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), who were tampering with election results.
Thursday’s vote was the culmination of an especially contentious election season in which allegations of military meddling took center-stage, casting a shadow over a historic event that marks only the country’s third-ever democratic transition of power.
