NA-122 by-elections: PTI affidavits against poll results declared ‘bogus’

Aleem slams decision, challenges poll supervisory body to verify each document.

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: Election authorities have declared the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s affidavits challenging the results of last year’s re-polling in NA-122 (Lahore-V) as ‘bogus’, while the PTI’s Aleem Khan has challenged the authorities to verify each affidavit.

The top election supervisory body rejected the PTI’s plea, which demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan declare National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq’s election ‘null and void’.

The ECP said in its order that it had observed “some affidavits filed by the petitioner were absolutely false and, hence, the commission reserves its authority/right to proceed against them in accordance with law after final decision by the tribunal concerned”.

The polling body rejected Aleem’s claim that thousands of votes had been illegally transferred prior to the NA-122 by-polls to pave the way for Sadiq to win the election. “Some of the affidavits attached by Aleem Khan to substantiate his claim were absolutely bogus.”

Sadiq had won from the NA-122 constituency in the 2013 general elections against PTI Chairman Imran Khan. He was declared the winner for a second time in last year’s re-polling after a post-election tribunal had ordered a re-election.

Election authorities said that under the Pakistan Penal Code, submitting false evidence may entail a punishment of up to seven years. The ECP’s order can be used against the petitioner to disqualify him from future elections.

The polling body said in its order that the commission had given access to all the records regarding vote transfer in NA-122 sought by the petitioner.

These include copies of voter records freshly included in the electoral rolls of 2015, records of numerous people registered on a specific address after specifying the census blocks, records of inclusion, exclusion and deletion of voters in the electoral rolls of 2015 and additions, if any, made in the electoral rolls after announcement of the election schedule.

Meanwhile, a defiant Aleem slammed the ECP’s decision and challenged the electoral body to verify each of the 2,000 affidavits submitted by him in support of his claims.

He also reached out to the PTI chief to stage a sit-in in NA-122 until “justice is served”. Addressing a press conference at his Lahore office, Aleem claimed that the PTI’s victorious candidate from PP-154, Shoaib Siddiqi, was also willing to resign in the wake of a re-election.

An election tribunal had dismissed the PTI’s petition calling for annulment of the NA-122 by-poll results, claiming that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had indulged in technical rigging. Aleem said he would continue the legal battle in the Supreme Court.

He maintained that the affidavits were authentic, saying that consent of the people was not taken for inclusion and exclusion of their votes in the constituency ahead of the October by-polls. “How was the authenticity of these affidavits investigated, and when and by whom?”

He said he would abandon politics if the affidavits were proven false. “But the ECP has no moral integrity to investigate into the NA-122 by-elections.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2016.