Terming the local bodies elections a "fraud", the opposition PPP has declared that the party will not accept the results "as the ruling parties have rigged the polls at gunpoint".

Addressing a press conference at Bilawal House on Thursday evening, PPP leaders Taj Haider, Sherry Rehman, Rashid Rabbani and Rafiq Engineer said that "the armed activists of Muttahida and ruling parties occupied the polling stations all over the city and in the interior of Sindh, particularly in Tharparker, and filled the ballot boxes with bogus votes".

They said, "it was a systematic rigging as the Muttahida and other ruling coalition parties unleashed a new trend and robbed the election," and accused the police for collaborating with the armed activists of the ruling parties in their designs. Taj Haider said.

They said it was surprising that the armed activists of Muttahida were moving freely in the polling stations despite the deployment of army and Rangers. They claimed that polling agents of Awam Dost candidates were forced out from polling stations as activists of the ruling parties threatened voters from casting their votes. They said despite the instructions of the CEC, the ministers, advisers and parliament members of the ruling parties entered in the polling stations with armed activists and were seen "supervising" the rigging plan.

Rejecting the Chief Election Commission's claim that the turnout in Karachi was 50 per cent, the PPP leaders said the turnout of the voters was between 10 to 15 per cent and "the claim of the CEC was not realistic".

The PPP leaders claimed that 150 complaints were lodged with the CEC about serious violation and rigging but no action was taken. They said that Rangers arrested some armed activists of a ruling party who occupied the SMS School and recovered 15 books of the ballot papers. People saw on TV that teen-agers casting votes and at most of the polling stations polling staff allowed vote-casting without checking NICs, they added. Sherry Rehman said that the polling started hours late in those polling stations where Awam Dost and opponent candidates were in strong position and despite complaints to CEC no action was taken. In interior Sindh the armed activists of the allied parties forced women polling agents out from the polling stations and there was even a report about torturing two PPP women MPAs - Sassi Palejo and Humaira Alwani in Thatta.

Rashid Rabbani, the city PPP chief, alleged that some ballot boxes were stuffed late night on Wednesday, therefore, the party rejected the result of this election as it was merely a fraud.