Judicial commission : PTI, PPP team up to submit fraud ‘proof’

ANP to ‘prove’ PTI rigged 2013 general elections

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Punjab chapter of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have joined forces to submit “proof” of rigging in the 2013 general elections to the judicial commission set up to probe the allegation.

During the recently concluded five-day joint session of parliament convened to discuss the Yemen conflict, PPP was the only party to welcome PTI back to the house as well as defend it against other parliamentary parties’ jibes.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan termed PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan’s white paper against poll rigging a vindication of PTI’s stance on the matter. Imran has asked his party’s leaders to coordinate with Aitzaz and other PPP leaders in Punjab while presenting “evidence” before the three-judge judicial body.

Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk would lead the commission, with Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan as its members. The body is expected to declare its findings within 45 days.

ANP’s position

The Awami National Party (ANP) will plead its case on electoral rigging led by seasoned lawyer Abdul Latif Afridi, a senior party leader.

ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain said a committee comprising senior party leaders – Afrasiab Khattak, Bushra Gohar, former senator Zahid Khan and Hussain himself – was constituted to prepare recommendations regarding the party’s stance on rigging in the 2013 polls.

Hussain said the committee held a meeting at ANP headquarters Bacha Khan Markaz and discussed the proof and recommendations the party wants to present before the commission.

While PTI accuses the ruling party of rigging in Punjab, ANP claims PTI rigged the 2013 general elections.

ANP K-P President Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said his party would present “solid proof of massive rigging in the polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa”, where PTI secured majority of the assembly seats and leads the provincial government.

He asked the judicial body to take notice of the violent attacks on ANP workers before and during the elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2015.