Signs of manipulation: Imran Khan calls for thumbprint verification

PTI chief urges the Election Commission and Supreme Court to open a probe in four NA seats.

ISLAMABAD:

The head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan, called upon the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Court to probe the thumbprint impressions of ballots of four National Assembly constituencies to ascertain the rigging trend in the May 11 polls.

While addressing via a video-link a gathering of party workers at D-Chowk, Islamabad, Imran said that it is the duty of the chief justice and chief election commissioner to listen to the “hue and cry” raised by people who believe that the results of 25 to 30 constituencies were manipulated.

“Listen to the people who are on the roads now. They want fingerprints’ verification in the constituencies where polls were rigged on the elections day,” Imran said while directly referring to the chief justice. “A probe into the rigging allegations is inevitable for the future of democracy.”

He went on to clarify that PTI does not want to sabotage the democratic process and neither does it demand re-polling across the country.

Questioning the chief election commissioner over the use of thumbprint impressions, Imran Khan said: “Why was a massive amount of capital spent on collection of thumbprint impressions of voters if they were not to be used to identify corruption and misappropriation in the polls?”



All political parties have collective opinion that elections were rigged as returning officers were involved in manipulating the results. “Returning officers were equally responsible for rigging in the polls,” Imran alleged. Voters were witnessing the blatant violation of the code of conduct set by the ECP for free and fair elections, he told the supporters who came from twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

“Our demand is to strengthen democracy and make the electoral process fair, just and satisfactory for all political players in the country,” he said. “Who would contest elections in future if the role of returning officers and subsequent rigging charges are not investigated properly?”

He appealed to the Supreme Court to order verification of thumbprint impressions in the constituencies where allegations were being levelled against returning officers, adding that it will determine the trend of manipulation of results across the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2013.