Tribunal verdict: Imran overjoyed, renews his poll prediction

Imran attributed it to the 126-day-long dharna and renewed his predictions

ISLAMABAD:

PTI Chairman Imran Khan was visibly happy on Monday with an election tribunal decision in the National Assembly constituency NA-125. He attributed it to the 126-day-long dharna and renewed his prediction that 2015 will be the year of fresh general elections.

Appearing before the media along with his party leaders, a beaming Imran called upon the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold accountable the presiding and returning officers involved in electoral fraud in the constituency which his party’s candidate, Hamid Khan, had lost to Khwaja Saad Rafique of the PML-N in the 2013 elections.

“Such a decision would not have been possible without our street protests,” Imran added. “We will pressure them [POs, ROs] to disclose who asked them to rig the elections.”

The PTI chief said his party would request the judicial commission, which has been tasked to investigate alleged fraud in the 2013 elections, to quiz these low-ranking judicial officials on who had asked them to rig the elections. He demanded re-election in NA-126 be held after the PO and RO were held accountable or else the government could again rig the elections.

Rejecting Rafique’s claim that he was not involved in rigging and that it was all the incompetency of the polling officers and returning officers, Imran said the election tribunal could only declare if the election was free and fair. “The judicial commission will decide who planned the rigging in the 2013 elections,” he added.

While reading out from the tribunal’s short order, Imran said that according to NADRA’s report, on average, each voter cast six votes in NA-125. If it takes a prominent lawyer, Hamid Khan, two long years to get justice, then one can imagine how difficult it is to contest such cases, he added.

Regarding the forensic results of NA-122, Imran demanded the ECP provide the results at the earliest. “A verdict in Jahangir Tareen’s constituency will also be out by the end of this month.”

During the press conference, Imran referred to Khawaja Saad Rafique as a ‘stranger in the house for two years’. “At this rate, the prime minister will also be a stranger in the house,” he added.

The PTI chief said he would see the NADRA chief and inquire why the forensic report in NA-122 was not being released. The incumbent National Assembly speaker, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, had defeated Imran in this constituency in the 2013 election – but the PTI alleged rigging and called for an inquiry.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2015.