NADRA report unearths massive rigging in PS-114

KARACHI: A report of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) on Wednesday unearthed that polls for provincial assembly constituency PS-114 in Karachi were massively rigged.

Nadra submitted a report to Election Tribunal in Karachi headed by former judge Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani, in an election petition filed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Abdur Rauf Siddiqui, who moved the election tribunal challenging the election results of winning candidate Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz's (PML-N) Irfanullah Khan Marwat.

Marwat had been declared as successful candidate with Abdul Rauf Siddiqui being the runner-up. Following Rauf Siddiqui’s complaint, the election tribunal on Aug 3 directed the NADRA to verify the thumb impressions of voters of certain polling stations in the constituency.

The report said that a total of 92,731 counterfoils were sent to the NADRA for verification out of which 14,234 ballot papers contained invalid national identity card numbers, which were never issued by the authority. The bogus voting was observed in two polling stations (64 and 69) of the constituency.

NADRA report unearthed that the thumb impressions on 63,469 ballots could not be compared or matched through the NADRA system because the fingerprints were of very poor quality.

It added that a total of 10,007 votes were successfully authenticated as the finger prints on the counterfoils correctly matched with finger print data of registered voters.

Moreover 378 votes were found unregistered in the constituency and it was ascertained on the basis of the CNIC numbers mentioned on the used ballot papers. This was observed mainly in three polling stations of constituency, the report said.

Besides, the report said that there were 792 duplicate votes, which were cast by as many as 1602 voters mainly in two polling stations. This information was extracted by capturing CNIC number used on counterfoil as one CNIC (24301-1530723-0) of Bibi Jamila, a resident of Mehmoodabad cast her vote five times.

As many as 581 ballot papers were found without thumb impressions on them. The report said that 3270 votes failed authentication, because someone else voted against the CNIC number mentioned on the used counterfoils. It said that one CNIC (42301-3760308-7) of Muhammad Arif Sattar, resident of Azam Town was used to cast 44 votes.

Earlier, NADRA had submitted a report to the Election tribunal regarding voter verification for NA-256in Karachi, which had also revealed massive rigging in the elections.