NA-240 violence: Police arrest 60 suspects, register four cases

KARACHI: The police have so far arrested 60 people and registered four cases after at least one person was killed and multiple others sustained wounds in the violence-hit by-election in NA-240 Karachi, ARY NEWS reported.

The police have registered four FIRs, three in Landhi and one in Kaorangi, against miscreants for spreading terror, hooliganism, firing and damage to public and private properties.

“Police have arrested 60 people hailing from different political parties in multiple raids in Malir, Korangi and districts West and Central,” they said.

Violence during NA-240 Karachi by-poll claims one life

Additional Inspector-General (AIG) Karachi, Javed Alam Odho, has confirmed one death in armed clashes between political workers of rival parties during the by-election in the NA-240 constituency.

Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) head Dr Shahid Rasul also confirmed that the hospital received three persons and one body.

In a statement, AIG Karachi Javed Alam said that one person – identified as Saifuddin – died while four others were injured during the violence in Landhi-6.

MQM-P RETAINS NA-240 KARACHI SEAT IN NAIL-BITING CONTEST

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has successfully retained the National Assembly seat from NA-240 Karachi, following a nail-biting competition from TLP in the by-election marred by violence, low voter turnout and allegations of rigging.

The seat fell vacant after the party’s MNA Iqbal Ali Muhammad Khan died due to natural causes.

According to unofficial results, the MQM-P candidate Muhammad Abu Bakr bagged 10,683 votes, followed by TLP’s Shahzada Shahbaz who secured 10,618 votes.

According to form 47 issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), there were 309 polling stations established for 529,855 voters of which only 8.38 percent [43,948] of them cast their votes during the polling process.

It shared that 440 votes were rejected by the commission.

Meanwhile, TLP has submitted a request for a recount in the constituency to the returning officer saying that they were not satisfied with the result and wanted to exercise their legal right of a recount.

“The RTS stopped working for 33 minutes during the result compilation process,” the party further alleged. The ECP has accepted their plea for a recount.

Moreover, the top leader of the party Saad Rizvi alleged that ballot boxes were snatched from three polling stations and they have evidence of it. “Rigging complaints have also been reported from multiple polling stations,” he said.