PML-N candidate did not destroy ballot boxes in NA-242 Keamari-I

Claim:  A video shows a PML-N candidate breaking into a polling station for NA-242, along with other unknown individuals in civilian clothes, and destroying ballot boxes as votes were being counted on the day of the 2024 General Election. 

Fact: The man in the video can be identified as Qadir Khan Mandokhail, the PPP’s candidate for NA-242. He is not a PML-N candidate. Mnadokhil has also admitted to breaking into the polling station.

Accusations of rigging, violence, and irregularities by various political parties and candidates plagued Pakistan’s General Election, which took place on 8 February 2024. 

During this time, a reel (archived) was shared on Facebook showing a group of men barging into a polling station. The man is seen destroying ballot boxes. The text imposed on the video claims that the man is a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) candidate and that he was accompanied by intelligence agents who broke into the polling station during counting and ruined ballot boxes.

The caption of the reel was: 

“اس ویڈیو کو آگ کی طرح پھیلاو”

[Translation: spread this video like fire]

The text imposed on the video reads:

“نون لیگ اور نامعلوم افراد پولنگ سٹیشن میں داخل… ساری دبی تور دی”

[Translation: N League and unknown civilians enter the polling station… breaking all the boxes]

Fact or Fiction?

This claim is false. The video does not show a PML-N candidate, but a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate, Qadir Khan Mandokhail, as verified by multiple sources. 

According to a report by Dunya News, the ECP stated that it had taken notice of the incident, and had directed authorities to take action against the culprits under Section 196 of the Elections Act, which deals with offences relating to polling stations. They confirmed that Qadir Khan Mandokhail was the person who attacked the polling station and smashed ballot boxes, according to Dawn.

When Soch Fact Check interviewed Mandokhail at the Sindh High Court on 12 February 2024, he confessed to breaking into the polling station. In the interview, after the timestamp 06:00, Mandokhail claims that he went inside the polling station to prevent the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) from rigging the count and detaining a female polling agent in that particular polling station.

In the interview, Mandokhail added that he had evidence of malpractice, on the basis of which he had filed a petition in the court to challenge the election results of NA-242, where he lost to the MQM-P candidate, Syed Mustafa Kamal.

Soch Fact Check has not verified the veracity of Mandokhail’s claims regarding the MQM-P. However, it is clear that the video shows  Mandokhail, not a PML-N candidate.

Virality

The video was shared as a reel on Facebook here.

Conclusion: The video of a candidate breaking into a polling station and smashing ballot boxes in NA-242 shows PPP’s candidate, Qadir Khan Mandokhail, and not a PML-N candidate. Mandokhail, who lost to the MQM-P candidate, admitted to breaking into the polling station, alleging that it was an attempt to stop rigging by the MQM-P.

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Background image in cover photo: Shutterstock

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