ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday alleged that the "worst rigging" took place in NA-75 (Daska), which must be eradicated or else it would be disastrous for the country.

Speaking at a presser, he said that he accused the local administration and the police of Daska of being hand in glove in order to steal the people's mandate for the candidate of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

"The by-poll at NA-75 (Daska) was badly rigged, and I would like to warn the people at the helm of affairs that if a full stop is not to this menace, it would be disastrous for the country," he declared.

He said that his party - the PML-N - sought more time as a large number of voters were yet to cast their votes, but the time for voting was not extended as the election staff were under immense pressure.

He continued that out of total 361 polling stations, results of only 341 have so far been announced, while the remaining results of 20 polling stations are yet to come, adding, the polling officers of these 20 polling stations were hardly 15 kilometres away, but they went missing, which is quite shocking.

Citing eye witnesses, he claimed that people in plain clothes came and drew them away along with bags of the votes of their respective polling stations. Abbasi said that when there will be no law in a country, strange things such as these take place, as people who want to steal vote will have no fears of being punished.

"These returning officers who had gone missing soon after the polling ended started reaching at the office of the district returning officer in the morning and kept making lame excuses such as someone said he was too tired while others said that specs had gone missing, etc," he lamented. He reiterated that unless we would not bring an end to the menace of rigging, the country could not be put on the right track.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021