Ghulam Mohd declared winner with seven votes

CHITRAL, May 14: After counting of postal ballots for PK-90 upper Chitral, a tribunal here on Tuesday evening declared Ghulam Mohammad of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) as the winner with just seven votes. According to the returning officer, postal votes of government officials were counted in presence of all candidates. He said Ghulam Mohammad got 159 votes while 123 votes were polled in favour of Syed Sardar Hussain of the PPP. After overall counting, Ghulam Mohammad won by seven votes. The tribunal of a sessions judge was formed after reports that in the polling station of Chuinj as many as 103 votes polled in favour of PPP’s Sardar Hussain were counted in the name of his namesake (Sardar Hussain) from Green Lasht who was also in the elections fray as an independent candidate, sources told chitraltoday.net. In return, only three votes polled by Sardar Husainf from Green Lasht were counted in the name of the PPP candidate in that polling station. Besides, the results of the 1,700 postal ballots were also counted which showed the APML candidate as the winner with seven votes. After the tribunal declared the results, Ghulam Mohammad along with the APML workers and supporters came in a huge procession to the local press club. The participants were chanting slogans of ‘Long live Parvez Musharaf. Addressing a news conference, Ghulam Mohammad thanked his supporters and people of Chitral for electing him on the APML ticket. He said the people of Chitral showed their loyalty with the former president. He said Parvez Musharaf was our benefactor and people of Chitral never forget their benefactors. He and his supporters later came to the APML office where MNA-elect Shahzada Iftikharuddin also spoke. He said the MNA seat was reserved for Parvez Msharaf and “I promise that as and when he is released I will resign from this seat in his favour and Musharraf will be elected during the by-election.”]]>