Rigging in election: PML-N so incompetent it can’t even cheat properly: PTI chief

Imran says audit of NA-122 enough to remove National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan took a dig at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday, saying that the prime minister’s party is “so incompetent they couldn’t even rig the elections properly.”

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Imran said he used to think Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was the most incompetent, but the PML-N has proved him wrong.

The PTI chairman said that a report of the audit in NA-122 has been prepared, which is enough to remove Ayaz Sadiq as speaker of the National Assembly. “I am certain Ayaz Sadiq cannot remain the NA speaker anymore,” said Imran.

Referring to the election tribunal’s report in NA-118, the PTI chief said that out of 170,000 votes, 119,000 votes were bogus, and that it was better not to hold election at all, if it was supposed to be rigged at such a large scale. “…we staged our sit-in for 126 days because of this rigging,” said Imran.

Talking about the delayed findings of election tribunals, he thanked chief election commissioner for issuing instructions of not delaying matters any further. “You would see another Imran Khan once we get the results,” he added.

“Now we understand how the rigging took place,” Imran said and added that returning officers (ROs) did the main job while some presiding officers were also involved. “Former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and former justice Khalilur Rehman Ramdy were behind the ROs,” he added.

Sharing details of an ECP report about NA-122 which has been sent to the election tribunals, he said that ROs opened the ballot bags, removed PTI’s votes and stuffed PML-N votes. “It has been proven by a certified forensic laboratory that signatures of 50 presiding officers were forged,” he added.

According to the laboratory report, “one person has signed for 20 presiding officers,” he added.“We do not need such (rigged) elections in Pakistan,” the PTI chief said.

Earlier, he pointed out that ruling PML-N has appointed its cronies in caretaker setup of Gilgit-Baltistan and demanded the government to remove them. “I am challenging right now and don’t blame us if we raise our voice against rigging [in Gilgit-Baltistan] elections afterwards,” he added.

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