Afghan polls: India welcomes announcement of initial results, favours early resolution of complaints

India on Monday welcomed the announcement of preliminary results of Afghan presidential election which showed incumbent Ashraf Ghani on course for a second five-year term.

At the same time, India said it expects that the complaints related to the election process would be addressed through the prescribed legal procedure so that final results are declared in a timely manner.

Afghan election officials on Sunday announced that President Ghani secured 50.64 per cent votes amid allegations of fraud and malpractice in the September 28 election. Ghani's rival Abdullah Abdullah has rejected the result and announced to challenge it.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India expects that the complaints would be addressed through the prescribed legal processes.

He said India remained committed to work with the people and government of Afghanistan in its fight against terrorism and its pursuit of socio-economic development.

"We welcome the announcement of the preliminary results of the Presidential election of Afghanistan held on 28 September and commend all the leaders and institutions for their hard work to preserve and strengthen democracy in the country," Kumar said.

"We expect that the complaints would be addressed through the prescribed legal processes so that the final results are declared in a timely manner," he said responding to a query on the election outcome.

India has been a key stakeholder in Afghanistan and has already spent around USD 3 billion in reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. India was strongly pushing for holding presidential elections in the country.

"We hope that the Afghan leaders and other stakeholders will work together to further strengthen the democratic polity and to fight the serious challenges of terrorism facing the country," the MEA spokesperson said.