Siraj ul Haq steps down as JI chief over 'election defeat'

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Siraj ul Haq on Monday stepped down from his position after the party failed to secure any national or provincial assembly seat in the February 8 general elections.

"Despite sincere efforts and hard work, I could not get the desired success in the elections," he said in his post on X.

The JI had fielded 759 candidates for National Assembly and provincial assembly seats across the country.

However, it managed to secure only four provincial assembly seats, 3 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Balochistan.

Earlier today, Ameer Jammat-e-Islami Karachi, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, forfeited his Sindh Assembly seat over the alleged rigging in elections.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the JI Karachi chief alleged that the electoral process was not started on time at many polling stations on election day in the port city.

He further alleged that the cameras were removed from the polling stations to rig the elections easily.

Naeem claimed that JI obtained more votes, in the Feb 8 elections than the local body elections in Karachi, in which the party had secured 85 seats.

He admitted that his constituency was won by a PTI-backed candidate but it was given to him in 'charity.'

"We don’t want a seat in charity. We want our right. I bagged 30,464 votes as per form-45 but ECP's form-47 was tampered with to favour MQM-P. It was all done to facilitate MQM-P who even cannot win a councilor seat," he said in a presser.