KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rahman has announced that he is losing the PS-129 Sindh assembly seat to a PTI-backed candidate.
Naeem won from PS-129 Karachi Central VIII with 26,296 votes while PTI-backed independent candidate Saif Bari got 11,357 votes.
In a press conference, Naeem said that PTI-backed candidate Saif Bari got 11,357 votes and that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had changed the results.
“I am giving up this seat,” Naeem announced, adding that “independent candidate Saif Bari has won in real fashion, his votes reduced to 11,000 out of 31,000”.
He also claimed to have polled more than 30,000 votes, but according to Form 47 issued by the election watchdog, he polled 26,000 votes.
Also read: Punjab Police thwart terrorist attack on Mianwali checkpoint
“After protesting the rigged result, ECP corrected my vote tally to 30,000;” Naeem added.
He further clarified that despite getting 30,000 votes, the PTI-backed candidate won the seat with a higher number of votes.
The JI leader accepted that the PTI-backed independent candidate had won the seat, saying the party would also recognize MQM-P’s mandate if he won honourably.
However, he criticized the MQM-P, saying that their stance had never favored the party in winning seats and that “with such a bad reputation, they can’t even win an adviser’s seat”.
