History of 2018 elections to be repeated in Gilgit-Baltistan: Haideri

JUI-F Secretary-General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri on Saturday said the history of 2018 general elections would be repeated in Gilgit-Baltistan on November 15, adding that the influential personalities were pressured to vote for the PTI. 

In an exclusive interview with 24NewsHD TV channel, Haideri said an attempt was being made to ensure the victory of PTI candidates through bogus postal ballots.

He demanded that the component parties to Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) should jam the country in case of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections were rigged.

“The people who do not exist, many of them have passed away, ballot papers have also been issued in their name,” said the JUI-F leader.

Haideri vowed that they would not tolerate the injustice the way the government was going to rig the process.

“The PTI has been able to digest the 2018 elections so far. We won’t allow them to digest the Gilgit [Baltistan] elections too,” he remarked.

About the role of the Election Commission, he said the authority was crippled from day one. “The prime minister, the federal ministers are interfering in Gilgit-Baltistan elections directly, but the Election Commission is silent,” the JUI-F secretary-general maintained.

Similar views were expressed by PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday who said issuance of more than 1,000 fake postal ballots in a Diamer constituency was another proof of rigging.

Commenting on a report aired by 24NewsHD TV channel, the PML-N leader said, “The number of government officials is 700 but 1,791 postal ballots had been issued. It is called rigging, it is called vote theft”.

Commenting on the situation, Ahsan Iqbal – the party’s secretary-general – remarked whether the recent election survey was prepared according to the manufactured results or preparation were under way to formulate results as per the survey.  

The statement came after a controversial survey was shared in media that Prime Imran Khan was the most popular leader in the region with his party to beg 27 percent votes.

The opposition parties – PML-N, PPP and JUI-F – have been persistently warning about rigging in the November 15 elections for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

During her recent campaign rallies in the region, Maryam repeatedly urged the supporters not to vote for the turncoats, as at least nine former party members switched their loyalties in recent months amid alleged pressure exerted on them.    

Earlier, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had stated that it was getting embossing with each passing moment.

دیکھتا جا شرماتا جا https://t.co/NeLVYdZ64x

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) November 12, 2020

But later in the day, she told a rally in Swat without naming anyone that they had been forced to rethink their rigging plans in Gilgit-Baltistan after the huge rallies she held in her recent election campaign. 

According to Maryam, they were saying that the PML-N would get two or three seats. But they are now forced to say that seven or eight seats have to be given to the party. 

Rigging or no rigging, they would regret anyway, she said, addressing the rivals directly albeit without naming them.