KARACHI: Over 150 ballot papers used in the July 25 general elections were found in the classroom of a government boys’ school in the city’s Gizri area on Thursday, sources said.

They said majority of the ballot papers were stamped with Pakistan Peoples Party’s election symbol ‘arrow’,

This is second time that used ballot papers were found in Karachi. Earlier, scores of used ballot papers were found from a garbage dump in the city’s Qayyum­abad area on Sunday.

Schools reopened in the city on Wednesday after summer vacations. On Thursday morning when students came to attend Gul Hasan Lashari Memorial School, located opposite Gizri Petrol Pump, one of them found the ballot papers in a desk in his class.

The student handed over the ballot papers to the school headmaster. The headmaster reported about the ballot papers to UC-31 Chairman Karamullah Waqas who belongs to the PPP.

Receiving information about the discovery of the ballot papers, PPP leader Saeed Ghani and the party’s candidate for the Sindh Assembly constituency PS-111 visited the school to verify the fact.

According to Mr Ghani, the number of ballot papers found was 154. He claimed that 118 of them were stamped with the PPP election symbol ‘arrow’.

When contacted, an official of the Election Commission of Pakistan, said on condition of anonymity that some PPP leaders had brought the matter into his notice.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2018