Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday that results of the Gilgit-Baltistan election were changed overnight and his party's mandate was stolen.
Addressing a press conference in Gilgit City on Monday evening, Bilawal said that voting was not held at all polling stations in the GBA-2 constituency. He said that powers that be must not push his party to take extreme decisions. He said his party would continue its protest against vote rigging in the Gilgit Baltistan elections.
Earlier in the day, PPP representatives staged a sit-in outside the deputy commissioner’s office in Gilgit City to protest the alleged vote-rigging in the Gilgit Baltistan elections.
It was said the PPP candidate, Jamil Ahmed, was leading by 400 votes on Sunday night in the final count but in the morning he was shown trailing by two votes.
Bilawal joined the protest and addressed the crowd there. In his speech, he said that PPP candidates were pressurised to leave the party and join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) but each and every one of them remained steadfast except one.
He said that when the authorities witnessed support for the PPP by people of GB from Siachen to Gilgit, they got worried. He said the election commission started supporting illegal acts of the PTI ministers; so much so that the chief election commissioner went to Islamabad and held a press conference there against the opposition instead of stopping the government ministers from illegal acts. Even Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Gilgit, he said.
The PPP chairman said three seats were clearly snatched from the PPP but warned that no one will be allowed to do so. He said the PPP will continue its protest at every place where rigging was done. “We will not allow the puppet, the selected and the selectors to steal the elections. The selectors knew that PTI does not exist in Gilgit Baltistan. Everyone knows that people of GB are with the PPP,” he said.
Bilawal said that people of GB snatched their rights from the Dogra Raj and they will again snatch their rights from the usurpers. He said that he was under pressure by people and warned the powers that be not to push him to take extreme measures. He asked people to continue their protest. “If people are not given the snatched seats, they will go to Islamabad and he will lead the protest,” he said.
Bilawal said he was not going anywhere till the rights of people are given to them. He said if rigging is not reversed, he will choose an extreme and difficult path but that will be the path to victory. He said that he had already called for accepting the verdict of the people otherwise there will be consequences.