National Democratic Movement (NDM) chief and NA-40 candidate Mohsin Dawar has submitted a request to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for repolling in the constituency.
Per the application filed with the ECP, Dawar has urged the apex poll body not to notify any returned candidate from the constituency.
Dawar claimed in his application that during the February 8 elections, some extremists had stolen polling material from election staff at 14 polling stations and wrote a figure for votes on Form-45, two polling stations were bombed, while at some locations, the miscreants torched polling material.
Per the official results from NA-40 North Waziristan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan's Misbah Uddin was declared the winner with 42,994 votes. Independent candidate (backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) Aurangzeb Khan was second with 33,852 votes. In comparison, Dawar was shown as third with 32,768 votes.
It is pertinent to note that Dawar had claimed there had been rigging during the elections on February 8. In a subsequent protest outside the office of the deputy commissioner, security forces allegedly fired upon Dawar and his supporters.
As a result, Dawar suffered bullet wounds while several of his party members were injured.
Moreover, the ECP has already directed repolling at several polling stations in different constituencies because polling there was disrupted for various reasons on February 8. On February 19, repolling on six polling stations of NA-43 will be held in Tank - Dera Ismail Khan. Maulana Fazlur Rehman's son, Asad Mehmood, is contesting elections there.