Wazirabad by-polls: Controversial presiding officer's video statement opens Pandora's box
February 22, 2021
- Presiding officer caught allegedly fleeing with a bag of votes last week in Wazirabad by-polls identifies himself as Liaquat Ali Bhutta
- In the video, a behind-the-scenes voice can be heard dictating Liaquat Ali Bhutta what to say in his statement
- The voice, which Geo News was unable to independently verify, has made the matter all the more suspicious
- Bhutta denies the allegations of voting fraud, claims his life is "still in danger"
LAHORE: A controversial presiding officer, who was caught allegedly fleeing with a bag of votes last week during the Wazirabad by-polls, has opened Pandora's box, with the man identifying himself as Liaquat Ali Bhutta.
In the video, a behind-the-scenes voice can be heard dictating Liaquat Ali Bhutta what to say in his statement, guiding him with words and phrases as input to continue onwards. The voice, which Geo News was unable to independently verify, has made the matter all the more suspicious.
In his video statement, Bhutta described himself as the presiding officer of a polling station in Wazirabad and said some people had "kept pressurising him for help throughout the day".
The presiding officer denied the allegations of voting fraud, claiming that armed men abducted him, snatched the bag of votes from him, issued death threats, and paraded him around on the streets.
Read more: 'PTI members caught red-handed with stolen votes', claims PML-N
He said his life is "still in danger", and appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Prime Minister Imran Khan for help.
On February 19, a video had gone viral during the by-elections wherein some people caught the presiding officer fleeing with a bag of votes. Despite being asked multiple times where he was going with the bag full of votes, he had remained silent.
