Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, a politician who won a seat in Pakistan national elections last week, has given up his seat, saying the election was rigged in his favour.

At a press conference on Monday, Mr Rehman said he will not accept an illegitimate victory.

“If anyone wants to make us win in an illegitimate manner, we will not be accepting that,” Mr Rehman said. “Public opinion should be respected. Let the winner win. Let the loser lose. No one should get anything extra.” 

Pakistan’s electoral body denied Mr Rehman’s claim. 

With 26,000 votes, Mr Rehman of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party was declared the winner of the provincial seat 129 in Karachi. 

But the politician will not accept the victory on the grounds that the election was rigged in his favour against his opponent, Saif Bari of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party-backed, whose 31,000 votes were reduced to 11000 votes.