By Shahzad Murad
GILGIT BALTISTAN: In a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Gilgit Baltistan Raja Shahbaz rejected Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s claims of unfair elections during the recent election in Gilgit Baltistan.
Chief Election Commission Gilgit-Baltistan Raja Shahbaz Khan addressing a press conference.
While expressing his thoughts on Bilawal’s claims, chief election commissioner Shahbaz said, “Bilawal had been ranting about rigging the past one month […] What is rigging? is it a feather? a tail? What is it?”
He further stated that the most appropriate action for political parties is to approach the election tribunal, rather than constantly blemishing the electoral process on media.
People queue to cast their ballot at a polling station during the legislative assembly election (Photo credit Facebook/Gupis Gilgit Baltistan)
CEC urged political parties to avoid proclaiming false allegations against the elections without any proof. As such claims and allegations can hurt the region and its people.
In addition to that CEC Shahbaz stated “[Gilgit Baltistan] Elections have been transparent and impartial”.
The statement of CEC came as an aftermath of recent claims by political parties about unjust polling and electoral process in the recent elections held at Gilgit Baltistan.
Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the microblogging website Twitter shared a graph of voting percentages and claimed that his party has secured the highest number of votes in the recent Gilgit Baltistan elections.
Whereas, Maryam Nawaz of PMLN has also shared her stance on the election by saying, “no one is willing to accept the fake results”.
In contradiction to the claims of Maryam and Bilawal, Gilgit Baltistan CEC Raja Shahbaz stated that the electoral process of 2020 elections was highly transparent and if the political parties think otherwise then they should consider taking this matter to the election tribunal so that their concerns can be listened and responded through relevant channels.
