ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) member of National Assembly Shehryar Khan Afridi on Wednesday ‘inadvertently’ wasted his vote for ongoing Senate elections 2021 a day after PPP leader Ali Haider Gillani spotted in a leaked video telling lawmakers how to waste their votes.
The lawmakers of the National Assembly and three provincial assemblies – Sindh, KP and Balochistan – are voting on 37 vacant seats of the upper house of the Parliament.
Afridi, who serves as chairperson of the Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir, violating the rules put his signature on the ballot paper besides stamping it. As per the rules, voters are required to just stamp the ballot paper properly without any additional mark.
The PTI leader said that the staff of the Election Commission of Pakistan failed to inform him about how to cast the votes. He has filed an application seeking permission to cast his vote again.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to local media, has reprimanded Afridi over the waste of his vote. You should to “make such blunder,” the premier remarked.
On Tuesday, a video of Ali Haider Gillani allegedly telling a lawmaker about how to waste his vote in polling for upper house of the parliament has surfaced on social media.
Yousaf Raza Gilani is in one-to-one contest with Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh for General seat from Islamabad.
It is claimed that Ali Gillani, who is leader of the PPP and member of the Punjab Assembly, was trying to buy the vote in order to ensure the victory of his father.
Video Proof of #AliHaiderGillani showing MNA's how to waste their vote to favour Yousaf Raza Gillani in senate election. For Pakistani resistance these are the so called guardians of democracy in #Pakistan.#ہار_چور_ووٹ_چور vs #SenateElection2021 pic.twitter.com/dKQEx3dfKZ
— Malik Ali Raza (@MalikAliiRaza) March 2, 2021
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the video. He also called for polling through open ballot.
یوسف رضا گیلانی کے بیٹے کی ووٹ خریدتے ہوئے وڈیو سامنے آنے کے بعد الیکشن کمیشن کو ایکشن لینا چاہئیے۔ یوسف رضا گیلانی کے پاس اب کوئی اخلاقی جواز نہیں بچتا الیکشن لڑنے کا۔انہیں فوری طور پر انتخاب سے الگ ہو جانا چاہئیے۔ایسا چور خاندان جس میں بڑوں سے لے کر بچے تک چوری کرنے میں ماہر
— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) March 2, 2021
Meanwhile, Ali Haider Gillani has confirmed the video but rejected an impression of buying the vote, stating that he was asking the PTI legislator to support his father in Senate elections.
I was telling them how to waste their vote in response to their query about what to do if party asks “them to show their votes,” he said.
“I have done nothing wrong. I am satisfied,” he said, adding: “We have never been involved in votes’ trading”.
Ali Haider Gillani further said that several other PTI lawmakers were present when the video was filmed.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/pakistan-holds-senate-elections-tomorrow/
