Massive rigging in Sindh, are parties worried of Imran Khan?

, May 11: Rigging was reported from various parts of

on Saturday, the day it went to the historic polls. But the rigging in Sindh province has been massive, turning the democratic process in a sham.

While ballot boxes were missing at many polling booths, presiding officers told voters where to stamp in others. Not to mention the repeated instances of harassment of voters, including the women, which left many of them in tears.

Will the rigging factor influence the outcome of the election?

Kamran Rehmat, editor of Pakistan-based Pique magazine and a prominent political analyst, told OneIndia it is not clear right now whether the election commission will call for fresh polls in places where the rigging took place.

He said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party which is accused of indulging in the irregularities, was believed to be the winner from Karachi but the most of the status-quoist parties of the country have remained wary of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), which has given call for change, and resorted to moves to disrupt the election.

The Jamaat-i-Islami decided to boycott the polls to protest the MQM's alleged rigging. Rehmat later confirmed that the MQM too decided to boycott the polls, a move which is believed to divert the attention from its anti-democratic activities.

Some other smaller parties also boycotted the elections but Rehmat said they were inconsequential and took the step just to show their importance.

Does MQM's act indicate that Khan could emerge victorious in this election?

According to Rehmat, the PTI is generally believed to be one of the three main contenders for the top post in this year's election, apart from the PPP and PML-N. "But since the PTI has only become a force to reckon with post October 30, 2011, when it shocked its opponents with a stunning public rally in Lahore , Sharif's stronghold, no analyst has been able to predict how far will it go," he said.

OneIndia News