GDA’s Fehmida Mirza accused by RO of interference in vote recount

KARACHI: Returning officer Arif Rajput on Sunday filed a complaint to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) candidate Dr Fehmida Mirza was attempting to influence the recounting process at NA-230 (Badin-II).

PPPP’s Haji Rasool Bux Chandio had previously asked the RO for a recount. He lost the election by a margin of 860 votes.

According to the RO, Dr Mirza’s margin of victory began to decline after votes were recounted at 13 polling stations but that the very next day Dr Mirza “started creating nuisance and tried to create hurdle[s] in the recounting process by raising unreasonable and baseless objections… apparently to avoid the conduct of further recounting proceedings”.

While Chandio has expressed his confidence in the recounting process, the RO said that the situation was such that recounting would be difficult.

The RO for PS-73 (Badin-IV) Mangha Ram had also previously filed a similar complaint against Dr Zulfiqar and Fehmida Mirza’s son Hassam Mirza.