ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has demanded the formation of a judicial commission to probe the rigging allegations made by the former Rawalpindi commissioner, Dawn reported.
In a press conference in Islamabad today, PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan said that the party had “struggled” for elections in the country, adding that PTI made efforts to have free, fair and timely elections in the country where everyone was granted a level-playing field.
He also lamented how efforts were made to keep the party out of the electoral arena. “But you all saw how on February 8 people heeded Imran Khan’s call and turned out in huge numbers to vote”, he said. Gohar claimed that the PTI had won “180 seats” in the National Assembly; 42 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 115 in Punjab, 16 in Sindh, and four in Balochistan.
He added that the party’s success was “not reflected” in the results of February 8. “We were given one seat in Balochistan, three are due. In Sindh, we did not get a single seat, they were all due. In Punjab, around 50 seats are due”. The PTI leader further asserted that there was a “deliberate delay” in announcing the provisional results after the polling in the February 8 national election.
These allegations came almost a week after the polls, on a day when Imran Khan’s PTI and other political parties decided to kick-start their nationwide anti-rigging campaign, claiming they were deprived of their mandate through “massive rigging.”
Meanwhile, in the latest development in the already disputed February 8 elections, Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of involvement in ‘rigging’ — a claim denied by the electoral watchdog and the top judge, Dawn reported.
The Rawalpindi commissioner, who has now been transferred to the Services and General Administration Department (SGAD) in Lahore, was scheduled to hold a press conference regarding the Pakistan Super League (PSL) arrangements at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. But instead of the presser, he had an informal chat with reporters in which he made the startling claims.
Liaquat Ali Chattha said that he was disclosing information about alleged irregularities in the election on the call of his conscience. He also accused Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of being a part of the “rigging plan”.
He said that he had decided to resign and took responsibility for supervising the “theft of public mandate” by changing the results of 13 National Assembly constituencies in six districts of Rawalpindi division.
The former Rawalpindi Commissioner also said that he had decided to resign and took responsibility for supervising the theft of public mandate by changing the results of 13 National Assembly constituencies in six districts of Rawalpindi Division, Dawn reported.
Chattha alleged that the candidates who were “losing” the elections “were made to win” and that the process to justify the manipulated results was still going on in “an organised manner at some offices.”
However, both the Chief Justice and the Election Commission have rejected the allegations, with the former saying the Supreme Court only dealt with “election-related petitions.” (ANI)