During a SAMAA TV‘s program “Naya Din” on Friday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentarian Aamir Liaquat Hussain revealed that he ticked the box with his party’s candidate’s name on the ballot paper while voting in Senate elections. His comments indicate that his vote may have been rejected by the Election Commission.
In the same program, PTI’s Kanwal Shauzab also appeared and contradicted the MNA’s statement. She said: “You have to write I (one in roman) in the box of the candidate you want to vote for. There are no stamps, no signatures, or anything else.”
If the MNAs want to waste their vote then they will end up ticking the box, writing another number, or put a cross there, she further explained.
Kanwal Shauzab was responsible for training the party legislators on the right way to cast votes.
However, when informed about his ‘mistake’, the MNA claimed that he “is a seasoned politician” and knew what he had to do. “No, no you have to tick it,” Liaquat remarked.
According to SAMAA News‘ report: Former Election Commission of Pakistan secretary Kunwar Dilshad agreed with Shauzab. “Aamir Liaquat’s point of view is not correct.”
“Usually people who mark the ballot paper incorrectly do it intentionally,” Dilshad was quoted by the report.
In the Senate election the government witnessed an upset in National Assembly on March 3 when its candidate Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was defeated by the joint opposition candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani who won 169 votes, while Shaikh got 164 votes with seven votes were counted as rejected.
It seems that Aamir Liaquat’s vote could be one of the rejected votes as he has claimed to have ticked on the ballot paper
