LG elections: Polls worse rigged than 2013, says Imran

Admits party’s defeat and announces intra-party elections

ISLAMABAD: Blaming the election commission yet again, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has claimed the recently concluded local government (LG) polls were manipulated even more than the 2013 general elections.

“All political parties know that state machinery was used for pre-poll rigging in the elections in Punjab, rural Sindh and Karachi,” PTI Chairman Imran Khan said on Monday while talking to the media after a party meeting in Islamabad.

Blaming the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the wrongdoings, he said the party would contact all parties which fought against the ‘status quo’, and then take relevant action.

He reiterated the PTI was against the status quo, and would continue to work towards ending it.

Imran also questioned the chief election commissioner’s statement expressing satisfaction following the LG polls with the overall exercise. He had terming the polls “better than any previous election”.



“What I feared has happened,” the PTI leader said. “Rigging in LG polls was even worse than the last general elections, as the ECP did not take action against those involved in rigging in 2013.”

The PTI, he said, will again take to the streets, which is its democratic right, if the rulers try to appoint handpicked officials before the next general elections in 2018. Many ECP members would retire before the next elections.

Though Imran admitted the PTI did not perform well, he claimed the party’s outreach increased across the country while the others were limited to provinces. “The PTI is the only federal party while others are just restricted to provinces,” he said, referring to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party, which have won majority seats in Punjab and Sindh, respectively.

“I accept the failings of the party, but we will reorganise the party and contest future elections in a better way as we have learnt about our weaknesses,” he said.

The PTI chief also announced the much-delayed intra-party elections. “We will work to rectify our mistakes,” he said. “I want the PTI to work as an institution even when I am not in this world.”

Meanwhile, Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed delivered another blow to the party by disqualifying 55 senior leaders, including Imran, from contesting the intra-party polls.

Wajihuddin, who heads the PTI’s election tribunal, has sent a letter to Imran, asking him to implement all the tribunal’s orders that barred all those who held party offices after the dissolution order of March 18.

The disqualified members also include Aleem Khan, Ali Zaidi, Andleeb Abbas, Asad Qaiser, Asad Umer, Azam Swati, Chaudhry Sarwar, Dr Arif Alvi, Dr Shireen Mazari, Fauzia Kasuri, Imran Ismail, Ishaq Khakwani, Jahangir Tareen and Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2015.