Afridi’s vote wasted as Zardari issued 2nd ballot paper

ISLAMABAD: The ballot paper of kashmir com mi tee Chairman Shehryar Afridi went waste as he put his signatures on instead of ticking the name of party’s candidate, Dr Hafeez Sheikh, from Islamabad.

Ater realising that his ballot has been rendered invalid and would not be counted in Sheikh’s tally, he applied to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for issuance of a new ballot paper.

The ballot paper of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) supremo Asif Ali Zardari also became invalid, but he had not put it in the ballot box. He applied for issuance of a new paper that the ECP accepted. Because of his illness, Zardari had given a wrong preference in the ballot paper.

Afridi later met Prime Minister Imran Khan and explained that he inadvertently put his signatures on the paper. However, Khan told him that he should have been very careful. Afridi said the prime minister directed him to seek a new ballot from the ECP. He also said that the prime minister told him that he has full confidence in him.

The ECP said that application for a new ballot paper could be given only before it was put in the ballot box.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI) leader in the Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman was stopped from casting his vote as a cell phone was recovered from him. Taking mobile phones in the polling station is prohibited under the election law.

A female voter belonging to the PPP pointed out that Zaman has the cell phone in his possession. In fact, he took out his mobile and showed it to her colleagues. However, Zaman later tendered an apology to the ECP, which allowed him to cast his vote.

It was reported that some voters hailing from both sides of the political divide took screenshots of the ballot papers.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-islami’s lone member of the National Assembly Maulana Akbar Chitrali did not cast his vote as his party has decided to boycot the polling for the federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda resigned from his National Assembly seat and submited the same to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, with his lawyer contending that a dual nationality case against the lawmaker was “not valid now.”