The statement further reads: “Thank you to the Whistler Blackcomb Adaptive Programme for educating us.
Some Pakistani social media users say that a returning officer (RO) in a constituency in Punjab’s Pakpattan district resigned following the general election, claiming that he was compelled to influence the poll results.
The allegation is false. As of February 13, no ROs from Pakpattan had quit.
Claim
“Breaking news, RO Pakpattan has resigned,” stated a user on X, formerly Twitter. “He has said that he cannot do such a big injustice [in the election results].”
At the time of writing, the post had received 169 reposts and 690 likes. It has been seen more than 10,000 times.
Another internet user said that the RO stated that he couldn’t “manipulate poll results” because the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed independent candidate won with a big margin in the constituency of Pakpattan.
The statement further reads: “Thank you to the Whistler Blackcomb Adaptive Programme for educating us.
A similar message was posted here, here, and here.
Fact
On December 11, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) nominated seven returning officers for the five provincial and two national assembly constituencies in Punjab’s Pakpattan district.
So yet, no one has quit.
On February 8, seven constituencies in the Pakpattan district were up for grabs, including five province assembly seats (PP-193, PP-194, PP-195, PP-196, and PP-197) and two national assembly seats (NA-139 and NA-140).
According to the ECP’s website, the following ROs were named after Pakpattan.
Fact Check reached out to all seven ROs listed on the ECP’s website. They all affirmed that they had not submitted any resignations.
It is crucial to note that for PP-196, the ECP had replaced RO Muhammad Yasin with Muhammad Afzal Khan on February 1, much before the polls were held.
Fact Check also spoke to Muhammad Yasin to ask if he had quit. Yasin said he was replaced and notified through WhatsApp at night. “So I left my charge,” he added.
