Lahore (Web Desk): Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Siraj-ul-Haq on Monday announced to stepped down from his office following his party’s severe defeat in the general elections 2024.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Siraj wrote, “Accepting responsibility for the defeat in the election, I resign from the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami.”
The resignation by the Jamaat chief comes after the party failed to secure any National Assembly seats and won only two Sindh Assembly and one Balochistan Assembly seat.
Earlier today, JI’s Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rahman announced that he is vacating his Sindh Assembly seat over alleged rigging.
He had won from PS-129 Karachi Central VIII with 26,296 votes with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidate Saif Bari secured 11,357 votes.
Addressing the media in Karachi, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rahman claimed his votes were reduced by the ECP on Form 47 and added that his team had tallied results from Form 45 earlier.
The JI leader said that he did not want a "charity" seat and that the opponent, who was supported by the PTI, had won the seat.
He added that he had enough dignity within himself to accept that the independent candidate had won on PS-129.
Naeem said that he would keep up the legal and political fight to win back every seat his party had lost as a result of "vote-rigging".
"You cannot change the people’s mind through fake mandate," he said.
The JI’s Sindh chief added that his votes were reduced while the votes of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate were increased to 20,000 from 6,000.