by SHAFQAT ALI in The Nation, Nov 21, 2020
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday alleged that the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Election Commission was involved in rigging the recently held general elections in the region. Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, spokesperson for Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said that the GB’s chief election commissioner should announce the results forthwith, and must not waste time in holding meaningless press conferences.
Senator Khokhar accused the GB Election Commission of crossing every limit of rigging in the elections. “The result of elections in constituency GB-2 has not been announced as yet despite the passage of five days,” he lamented.
He accused the local election commission of using delaying tactics to deprive Jamil Ahmed, PPP candidate from the constituency, of victory.
“Delay in announcing result of election in an urban constituency amounts to rigging and nothing else,” Senator Khokhar said categorically. Meanwhile, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Bokhari said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will hold the Peshawar rally as per schedule on November 22.
“PDM will surely hold public gathering in Peshawar on November 22,” he said in a statement. The reactions from opposition parties came after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government refused to allow PDM to organise the event in Peshawar due to increasing cases of coronavirus there.
The district administration has issued a notification in this regard, stating that a joint meeting was held with the organisers of the rally.
Ceremonies and public gatherings are to be avoided as the Covid-19 positivity rate in district Peshawar has exceeded 13 percent, which is alarmingly high and any large public gathering is likely to further increase the spread of life threatening virus, the notification stated.
It further stated that the local authorities regretted to inform that permission for the said event had not been granted to the opposition parties.
Nayyar Bokhari said it was strange that the coronavirus allowed Prime Minister Imran Khan to address rallies, but it became an issue at the time of opposition’s gatherings.
“The Peshawar rally will be a referendum against the federal government. The government cannot scare the PDM,” he said.https://nation.com.pk/21-Nov-2020/ppp-says-gb-election-commission-broke-all-previous-records-of-rigging
