Elections 2008: Rigging At NA-250 Karachi

Politics and Society

I left my house at around 2:30 pm. On reaching the street where my polling station was located, I noticed that there were no camps of Pakistan Peoples Party or MMA. Only the MQM camps were there and only their volunteers were present and in big numbers. I reched my polling station and surprisingly there were no polling agents of any other party but MQM. A huge number of MQM’s supporters were present inside the polling station. Since my all my relatives had always been devoted MQM supporters. Every one there thought that I am definitely going to vote MQM. They laughed when I showed my Identity card. They even asked me if I would like to cast another vote. I saw a 30 plus guy showing a pink slip of paper to presiding officer and getting a ballot paper without showing any identity card.

MQM’s volunteers were not only disturbing the polling process they were even spying on the polling booths. When I went inside to stamp on the ballot paper, a twenty plus guy was watching my ballot paper. I asked him to look away and when he disappeared I stamped my ballot papers. Dropped ballot papers in ballot boxes. I sat there with other MQM volunteers (they were all guys from my neighbourhood, some were relatives, cousins, etc.) no one asked me to leave the polling station and I saw many people coming showing identity cards of their dead relatives and casting votes. Many people came showing pink papers and casting votes, many people were accompanied by councillors, naib nazims, and MQM supporters.

When I was leaving the polling station I saw a forgein election observer accompanied by a Pakistani man and a woman. I thought for a while that may be I should talk to her, but then decided that it will be such a waste of time, she must have known whats going on by now.

Its quite clear now that Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig has lost to Khushbakh Shujaat of MQM. What I don’t understand is that why MQM bothered to stage bogus votes when it was already quite clear that they would win easily?

Update: Dr. Alvi reports rigging in Gulistan-e-Johar Karachi. He noticed the same things that I have mentioned above.

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0 thoughts on “Elections 2008: Rigging At NA-250 Karachi

  1. My family was turned away and not even allowed to vote at a polling station in NA-250 in Delhi Colony as they recognised we were Sindhis.

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