'Naked rigging', says Maryam after man from Imran Khan's party caught stealing votes
Feb 20, 2021
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 20 : Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that her workers caught a man who allegedly stole a bag of votes from a polling station in the by-elections for Punjab's PP-51 (Wazirabad) constituency. The PML-N leader termed it as "naked rigging", reported Dawn.
"PTI people caught red-handed stealing bagfuls of votes by PML-N MPA Adil Chatta and Ataa Tarar. Seal was also broken. Police was a part of the plan to steal votes for PTI," tweeted Maryam.
She also shared a number of what she called "bombshell videos" showing PML-N workers accosting a man who allegedly stole a bag of votes from a polling station.
Historically speaking, election rigging in Pakistan has occurred at multiple levels, with the connivance of state institutions, the establishment, polling officers and, of course, political parties and candidates.
Imran Khan's government win in 2018 is also alleged to be poll-rigged by the 11-party opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Pakistan held by-polls in four constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies on Friday. The constituencies contested are: NA-75, Sialkot-IV Daska, PP-51 Gujranwala I, NA-45 Kurram I and PK-63 Nowshera III, reported The News International. The Daska seat was formerly occupied by PML-N's Iftikharul Hassan Shah and the Kurram seat by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F's) Munir Khan Orakzai.
Earlier, in a tweet around 10:30 pm (Friday), Maryam said the results of both NA-75 and PP-51 by-elections "have stopped coming for more than an hour now", terming it a "replay of 2018".
"I want to warn all those who have stopped the results from Daska & Wazirabad and are trying to change the results, that THIS IS GOING TO COST YOU BIG TIME," she wrote.
