The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has admitted that registration of new votes and removal of old votes took place NA-122 constituency of Lahore.
A local news agency quoted ECP sources as saying that that about 800 votes were transferred from NA-122 while 4,542 new votes were registered; however the process of registration and removal of new and old votes was conducted prior to announcement of schedule of by-polls in NA-122.
The news agency claimed to have received documents which showed that allegations of transfer and registration of votes in NA-122 were baseless.
The documents showed that registration and transfer of votes in the said constituency had been completed prior to announcement of by-polls, as the registration and transfer of votes had been suspended after the by polls were announced. Only those applications which had been received before the announcement of the election schedule were entertained.
The complaints submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf could not be verified and the electoral rolls were found to be in order.
Sources said that before the computerised electoral rolls, the law prescribed that if the ECP staffers were found to be involved in tampering the data, they could be awarded five year imprisonment or Rs 5 million in fine or both.
In the high-profile by-polls of NA-122, PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq secured 74,525 votes while his rival PTI’s Aleem Khan was able to secure 72,082 votes. Ayaz Sadiq won the election by 2,443 votes.
