KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after victory in the NA-249 by-poll, has said Karachiites have rejected selected and placed their hopes in his party.
“Congratulations to workers of Pakistan Peoples Party on winning NA249 Karachi. After the recount, we’ve expanded our lead to over 900+ votes. False accusations have been exposed, the truth has prevailed,” tweeted the PPP chairperson.
Bilawal took a shot at the government, saying that Karachiites “have rejected selected & placed their hopes in PPP”.
Congratulations to workers of Pakistan Peoples Party on winning NA249 Karachi. After recount we’ve expanded our lead to over 900+ votes. False accusations have been exposed, the truth has prevailed. People of Karachi have rejected selected & placed their hopes in PPP. ✌️
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) May 9, 2021
On Saturday, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had retained the NA-249 by-election with a greater margin as Abdul Qadir Mandokhel of PPP declared winner in the final result after the votes recount.
As per details, after a recount of votes polled across all 276 stations, PPP candidate Abdul Qadir Mandokhel got 15,656 votes, whereas PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail secured 14,747, meaning a victory margin of 909 votes.
Earlier, when the unofficial by-poll results were first announced, Mandokhel won with 16,156 votes, whereas Ismail came in second with 15,473, resulting in a difference of 683 votes.
The low margin of votes had prompted Ismail to petition the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold a recount. The recount had been boycotted by all parties except for the PPP.
ECP officials said despite the boycott, the recount process will be completed as per the order, adding that political parties were demanding data that was not possible to retrieve.
Miftah Ismail had requested the ECP for a vote recount over irregularities on Election Day who argued that a large number of Form 45 was not duly signed by the presiding officers.
He also claimed and the polling agents of the party were also not given Form 46. He had further pointed out that there was a difference in the total votes recorded in Form 45 and Form 47. After hearing arguments on May 4, the ECP had ordered the recount of votes.
