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Friday, August 26, 2005

Polls boycott in Jhang, Nankana and Gujrat

MULTAN/GUJRAT: Local elections at polling stations in Multan, Gujrat and Nankana Sahib were boycotted in separate protests on Thursday. More than 30,000 Qadianis living in Chenab Nagar (Rabwah) in Jhang district boycotted polls because their leaders are against the separate electorate system. Not one Qadiani was reported to have voted while no Qadiani candidate had been nominated for minority seats in UCs 41 and 42. “The 30,0000 Qadianis in Chenab Nagar did not exercise their right to vote,” Jhang DPO Hamid Mukhtar Gondal told Daily Times. In Nankana Sahib, there was no polling, or even candidates nominated, at Salaar Bhattian, Chabttah, Rehmanabad and Khanqah Dogaran UCs as a protest against the inclusion of Khanqah Dogaran Qanugoyee tehsil in Nankana Sahib district rather than Sheikhupura district, Online reported. That leaves 52 seats in the four UCs vacant Daily Times correspondent Mansoor Behzad Butt reported that the Pakistan People’s Party announced it was boycotting polling at UCs 50, 53 56, 57 and 59 in Gujrat city after reports that supporters of Pakistan Muslim League-backed candidates had fired in the air outside polling stations. “We demand the Election Commission nullify the polls here,” said PPP Gujrat district president Mian Mushtaq Pagganwala. staff report

Source: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_26-8-2005_pg1_2