PTI decries ‘historic electoral heist’

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday dialled up its attacks against tampering with its purported mandate, alleging that a whopping 85 National Assembly seats, which it had secured in the Feb 8 polls, were surreptitiously "snatched away".

The party deemed the alleged electoral manipulation as the "largest assault on democracy" in the nation's political history while accusing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of orchestrating a nefarious conspiracy to strip the newly elected PTI MNAs of their public mandate on "ridiculous technical grounds".

In its declaration after the important meeting of the core meeting, the PTI pointed out that even other major political parties, not just the PTI, were vocalising concerns about the chief election commissioner and the ECP’s alleged criminal role.

It alleged that with the blessings of the ECP, blatant disregard for the people's mandate, Constitution, and democracy took place.

The party also announced plans for "peaceful protests" across the nation, slamming the door on rumours of cozying up with the PPP in the big leagues and the PTI-P in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to form a coalition government.

Addressing reporters following a meeting with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leaders in Islamabad, PTI leader Asad Qaiser extended an invitation to other political parties who believe there was "rigging" in the elections to join the protest.

Qaiser emphasised, "The meeting had a singular focus: the nation's mandate was pilfered in the 2024 elections," underscoring the collective agreement to raise a unified voice against the "bold rigging."

The PTI's core committee has urged the public to step out of their homes in response.

In the post-executive committee meeting declaration, the PTI asserted that the people would not tolerate the "insult of their mandate by the ECP", vowing not to forgive those who were involved in undermining the Constitution and democracy.

PTI 'won 179 seats'

Separately, the party, addressing the media in Islamabad, claimed that the total number of seats on which PTI-backed independents emerged victorious was 179, and the number of rejected votes cast in favour of the party outnumbered victory votes cast in favour.

PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, Sher Afzal Marwat, Rehana Dar and Salman Akram Raja among other leaders, who challenged their election results before various forums, were present at the news conference.

Elaborating on the claims further, Hasan said that the party possesses data for 46 seats, while the data for the remaining seats would be completed within the next 24 hours.

PTI leader Shandana Gulzar said that the party bagged 1.25 million votes from Karachi, and despite contesting from so many constituencies of the port city, the party did not achieve any success.

"Till 3pm, we had 154 NA seats. In K-P, we had 42 seats but the Election Commission gave us only 32."

She added that the PTI's polling agents were expelled from the polling stations, and as "night fell, the results were changed".

Seemabia Tahir said that PTI's Dr Yasmin Rashid was winning from NA-130, but on Feb 9, Nawaz Sharif was declared the winner from the constituency.

"The results of NA-47 were also rigged against Shoaib Shaheen,” she said. “The PTI achieved a significant lead in NA-56 Rawalpindi, but PML-N's Hanif Abbasi stole our mandate as night fell.

"In a similar manner, NA-236 was also targeted for rigging. We won all the seats from Karachi but we were not declared victorious on even one."

Party leader and senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja claimed that rigging took place "from the polling station to the RO's office".

"The results which should have been announced based on Form 45 were completely changed. They rigged the elections on the night of Feb 8 as much as was possible," Raja said. "Before the polls, security forces were used fully and independent candidates were denied the right to campaign for elections."

The senior lawyer said, "These elections are an open attack on democracy."

Earlier, PTI founding chairman and former premier Imran Khan demanded that the US should adopt a tough stance on “rigging” the recent general elections.

After meeting Imran at the Adiala Jail, PTI leader Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, accompanied by former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, told the media that the former premier had pushed the US to take a tougher stance on the recent general polls.

He quoted Imran as saying that in the manner in which the PTI was ousted from the polls, the US should be more vocal.