As political pressure intensified after voting for Punjab’s by-polls for 20 constituencies ended and the counting of the votes began, PTI Chairman Imran Khan Sunday urged the courts to “open now” to take notice of the “brazen violation” of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s orders and elections rules by the Punjab government.
The former prime minister took to his Twitter handle to highlight the untoward incidents that took place throughout the day, including the “use of government and state machinery to rig the election, illegal ballot stamping, harassment of voters, and arrests of PTI leaders.”
Khan further added that today, the Punjab government had violated the top court’s orders and election rules to rig the elections.
He further accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of turning a blind eye to the incidents, and said the “courts must open now [and] act.”
What happened throughout the day?
Polling in 20 constituencies of Punjab, which started at 8am today, came to an end at 5pm amid reports of isolated clashes and arrests.
During the day, Punjab police arrested senior PTI leader Shahbaz Gill for allegedly visiting different polling booths with his security guards who were dressed as FC personnel.
Meanwhile, the ECP issued a notice to PTI Vice-President Shah Mehmood Qureshi for violating Article 56 of the Election Commission’s code of conduct by visiting different polling stations, holding press briefings within the limits of the PP-217 Multan constituency, and launching an illegal raid along with supporters.
The ECP took notice of the fight in Lahore’s PP-158 and ordered the district returning officer to review the situation in the constituency and contact security officials.
A scuffle broke out between the PTI and PML-N workers during the polling process in Lahore’s constituency PP-158. As a result, one of the PML-N workers sustained a head injury.
