LAHORE: Former Federal Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique who after the recount of rejected votes has lost from his constituency, shunned the process and demanded all the casted votes to be rechecked.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz senior leader was competing against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on NA-131 Lahore, where he lost the battle with a razor-thin margin of around 600 votes.
While talking to media persons, Saad said his request to recount votes was only partially accepted, “Only the rejected votes that were around 2,035 were recounted whereas the overall casted votes of around 195,000 were not,” he said.
He further claimed he had submitted a written request to the returning officer for recounting and the RO had initially started to review the rejected votes only. “When I requested the RO to recount all the casted votes he went in his chamber and immediately rejected my plea upon returning”, alleged the former federal minister announcing that he will now approach the court against this decision.
The PML-N leader further blamed delimitations for his loss which badly affected his position in NA-131 and alleged the constituency was ‘especially designed for Khan to win’ as the areas where he was strong were taken out of its domain.
Moreover, Saad added that either the people responsible for delimitation were incompetent or they were working on an agenda. He also castigated Khan for not allowing recount of his constituency. “If Khan is afraid of recount then why is he making tall claims of reopening as many constituencies as requested,” he said adding that a level playing field was not provided to PML-N by entangling it in NAB trials, “We were defamed, abused and we tolerated that but PML-N will not tolerate its mandate being stolen”.
He said that throughout the Election day a ‘go slow’ policy was observed, forcing thousands of potential voters to return home after waiting hours in line in the harsh weather. “I challenge him to retain this seat of the five he has own,” he concluded adding that the PTI chief never won NA-131 and a recount will soon expose him before the people.
