GARDEZ (Pajhwok): All ballots of a provincial council runner from southeastern Paktia province have been invalidated by the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC), an official said on Tuesday.
One of their employees stuffed other candidates’ votes into the ballot box of Shaista Jan Ahadi during the recounting process, IECC head for Paktia Bashir Bahram told journalists in Gardez.
He said the practice had prompted them to scrap all votes of Ahadi, who is also the incumbent provincial council head.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) head in Paktia, Rahmatullah Haqmal, confirmed the incident. “We are in contact with the main office; the individual who used votes of other candidates in favour of a certain runner will be referred to the AG Office.”
But Ahadi rejected the IECC decision against him as injustice. He said invalidation of his ballots meant insulting voters, urging his supporters to take notice of the issue.
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