In NA-127, PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto finished third. With 98,210 votes, Attaullah Tarar of the PML-N became victorious, defeating Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, the independent supported by the PTI, by 15,980 votes. Finally, with 15,005 votes, was Bilawal. To put it succinctly, he received a fraction of the votes that Tarar had over Khokhar.
However, Bilawal, or at least his workers, insisted that the election was rigged at the returning officer level, where the vote totals were manipulated, rather than through the more traditional methods of ballot stuffing, booth capturing, or mass impersonations. Tampering is now possible, but to what extent? Although a close outcome could be overturned, it is more difficult to overturn an 83,000-vote lead.
A member of the constituency organization is likely apologizing out of panic after initially making ostentatious and unwarranted promises. Ultimately, it’s probably a good thing that Bilawal wasn’t relying solely on this constituency to gain entry into the National Assembly. He did succeed in winning two seats: Larkana and Qamber-Shahdadkot.
Also Read: Election Results: PTI-Backed Independent Candidates Leading the Polls
But his campaign has claimed that the internet outage on election day, which permitted the fraud to occur, is to blame for his defeat in Lahore. Since 1988, I have kept a careful eye on elections to determine how they are rigged. I haven’t been able to figure out the rigging process. What I’ve discovered is that only strongly fought seats are subject to vote rigging. To what extent? I’m not entirely sure. However, any margin beyond 10,000 has my trust. Should someone believe that a person’s 83,000 vote deficit may be overcome, they have another thought on their mind.
Of course, there’s the hardcore argument, which is that this result is what was being planned all along, right from the time that Imran was removed from office. The idea was to give him the sort of shock that he needed. Why does no one accept that the results were probably fair? Not overall, because there was all sorts of pre-poll rigging. This is the time when hardcore politicians have to worry. The real question is how many MPAs- or MNAs-elect, who had obtained PTI tickets, but who contested independently, will resist the greater national interest, and suddenly realize that they can’t support those guilty of the May 9 attacks?