SIBI: In a surprising development, Mir Asghar Khan Marri, an independent who was the runner-up in the last general elections, has declared that he will not participate in the ongoing by-elections being held in the PB-8 Sibi Constituency in Balochistan.
This has come after Marri maintained that the entire machinery of the state is being used to tilt the elections in favor of Sardar Kohyar Domki, the Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) candidate.
The by-elections, which are in the course of being conducted, were required owing to the death of PPP’s Provincial Assembly member Sarfraz Domki.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rules state that polling for a provincial assembly seat would go on until 5 p.m. Concerning the bye-elections, the police and the Frontier Constabulary (FC) have been deployed to Sibi’s sensitive polling stations, which are also under CCTV surveillance.
Furthermore, residents have been severely inconvenienced since mobile signals in Sibi and its outskirts have been switched off since last night.
