<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a> (Pajhwok): More electoral complaints were investigated by the Independent Election Complaint Commission (IECC) at a fourth public hearing on Tuesday, an official said.</p>
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<p>Most of the 74 complaints were recorded against the campaign teams of leading presidential runners Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in the northeastern zone.</p>
<p>Representatives of candidates, civil <a href="/en/society" class="glossify-link">society</a> organisations and media outlets were also present on the occasion.</p>
<p>IECC member Aziz Aryafar said the complaints from Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz and Baghlan provinces focused on ballot stuffing by warlords and fraud by commission staff.</p>
<p>One complaint says a presiding officer was beaten by a man who forcibly stuffed ballot boxes for Ahmadzai in Badakhshan province. </p>
<p>In the same province, ballot boxes were stuffed for Dr. Abdullah following a clash at a polling station in Jarshah Baba Girls’ School. </p>
<p>But Abdullah’s representative Zalgai Sajjad accused some IECC provincial officials of pursuing double standard. The officials ignored the complaints their objections and accepted others’ complaints without evidence.</p>
<p>Speaking on behalf of Ashraf Ahmadzai’s team, Eng. Bashi claimed some complaints were not based on documents or evidence.</p>
<p>Another representative of the same team, Syed Habib Hashimi, said the complaints not supported by evidence were unacceptable to them. </p>
<p>At the end of the public hearing, IECC Secretary Nadir Mohseni said today’s complaints had been divided into three categories.</p>
<p>The first category involved the complaints already debated by provincial offices, but candidates called for a reassessment.</p>
<p>Complaints stood in the second category could not be evaluated by provincial offices in the stipulated time, he added.</p>
<p>The complaints not assessed by provincial offices for different reasons were included in the third category, according to Mohseni. </p>
<p>mm/mud</p>
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