Major political parties allege pre-poll rigging

All major national political parties claim pre-poll rigging is ongoing and are demanding that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and caretaker governments take timely measures to ensure free and fair elections on July 25.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz points to the recent disqualification of PML-N candidates in the courts as well as arrests of others by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as pre-poll rigging.
Senator Mushahidullah Khan, PML-N secretary information, told this correspondent that all tactics are being used against his party's candidates to defeat them in the elections. "We will win maximum number of seats in the polls in spite of all the hurdles and difficulties," he added.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wrote letters to federal caretaker Prime Minister and Chief Election Commissioner recently seeking removal of provincial Governors and transfer of some key bureaucrats who were appointed by the previous government of the PML-N.
Fawad Chaudhry, secretary information of PTI, accused the Governors, especially in Punjab, of operating election offices for the PML-N; therefore the caretaker Prime Minister should remove them before the elections. Pakistan Peoples Party's ex-Senator Taj Haider said his party had always been a victim to pre-poll rigging and this time is no different.
"Pre-poll rigging took place during the delimitation of constituencies exercise in Karachi on the basis of ethnicity and language," he said, adding that this was done to create hurdles for PPP candidates. Haider said his party had initially opposed the delimitations of constituencies on the basis of provisional census results, but withdrew its objections when other parties accused the PPP of trying to delay the general elections.
"We were left with no option but to drop our concerns over the delimitations on provisional census results," he said, adding PPP has fielded good candidates in all the four provinces and 'we hope to win maximum seats despite the pre-poll rigging'.
Haider said his party voiced its reservations over the control of the Punjab administration by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz appointees, adding that "they would definitely try to influence the election results in favour of the PML-N".
Ali Raza Abidi, leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, said his party had voiced concerns over pre-poll rigging and its reservations had been conveyed to the election commission and caretaker governments. He said his party was not getting a level playing field in Karachi, Hyderabad and interior Sindh as the MQM-P workers are being arrested and intimidated by "certain forces."
Abidi said the biggest pre-poll rigging against his party was carried out through the census as population of Karachi was shown to be considerably less than what it is. "We are sure people of Karachi will vote for the Kite - election symbol of the party - on July 25 despite all the high-handedness," he told Business Recorder.