KARACHI: Masked people burned a sack filled with ballot papers and also stole another at a regional election commission’s office as a vote recount was underway of the NA-231 (Malir-III) constituency.
Following the incident, workers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) blamed each other, leading to commotion at the commission’s office, situated in the Saddar area.
The ECP’s direction came after an election tribunal of the Sindh High Court had directed the provincial election commissioner to examine and recount all the ballots cast at four polling stations — PS 65, 71, 98, and 175 — of NA-231.
The order came on an election petition filed by Khalid Mehmood Ali, a candidate backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), against the election results of NA-231, where the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Abdul Hakeem Baloch was declared the returned candidate.
The commission’s personnel, following the violence, began removing the burnt material from the site of the incident.
