GARHI DUPATTA (Dunya News) – Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari rejected the results of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) local elections, alleging widespread rigging and demanding re-polling in the constituency of Chaudhry Yasin.
Addressing a workers' convention in Muzaffarabad, Bilawal questioned why the PPP should accept the results in Chaudhry Yasin's constituency, claiming there was video evidence showing polling stations being taken over and ballot papers being stamped unlawfully.
He alleged that around 30 polling stations had been captured and said those stations recorded nearly 90% voter turnout, which he described as suspicious.
Bilawal called for fresh polling in the constituency, saying the PPP was competing against a party that, according to him, had a long history of benefiting from electoral manipulation.
He said the party was prepared to accept defeat in a fair political contest but would not recognise what he described as a "stolen mandate."
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The PPP chairman proposed the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the allegations and determine the facts.
He also vowed that the votes of the Kashmiri people would be protected, saying his party would work to recover every seat it believed had been taken through electoral malpractice.
Bilawal said he wanted to secure the rights of the people of Kashmir through democratic means, adding that he would pursue those rights by winning elections rather than through violence or by blocking roads.