Rigging inquiry report: Imran calls for heads to roll at ECP

PTI chief sticks to ‘unfair elections’ stance

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has called for the resignation of top officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while questioning over three dozen key points in the inquiry commission’s report on alleged electoral fraud.

Addressing a news conference on Saturday two days after the judicial panel released its findings on the 2013 general elections, the PTI chief formally accepted the verdict while expressing reservations over the final report. “It was the first such powerful commission in the country’s history to probe rigging, but it somehow let us down when it apparently left the investigations incomplete despite having full-fledged authority,” he added.

Imran believed the panel could have probed the rigging allegations in a better way by using its power through a special investigation team.

The PTI chairman also questioned the commission’s verdict that the last general elections were “in large part organised and conducted fairly and in accordance with the law”. “How could the commission declare the elections were conducted lawfully when around 25 million votes could not be verified as according to its own report 35% of Form-XV were missing?” asked Imran.



In his much-awaited response to the 237-page report, the PTI leader hit out at the ECP, claiming it had no idea how the elections were conducted. “ECP’s [top] officials must resign now as the inquiry commission report has proved the authority failed to ensure free and fair elections,” he said.

Quoting from the report that the top poll supervisory body had no coordination with its provincial election commissions, he questioned how could the ECP officials held responsible for rigging in the 2013 elections ensure fair elections in the upcoming local government polls in Punjab and Sindh.

Refusing to apologise for staging the 126-day sit-in in Islamabad, Imran said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should instead apologise to the nation as the inquiry commission had vindicated the PTI’s demand for inquiry into the 2013 elections.

“Mian Sa’ab! [PM Nawaz] You should tender an apology to the nation. Why should the PTI? We only demanded a fair inquiry into [rigging in] four constituencies,” the PTI chief said.



He added the former chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, should have taken notice of electoral rigging, but he did not let the authorities open ballot bags in even four constituencies.

Dispelling the notion that the PTI wasted its time in dharnas, Imran said the party had created political awareness among the masses. “We have accepted the results for bringing transparency and for the future course of democracy,” he added. “Within the next 10 days, we will make the report on local government polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa public and all those who were involved in rigging would be punished.”

The PTI chairman, however, raised more questions about the role of returning officers (ROs), asking why they were given a free hand to decide on printing extra ballot papers. “Why were the ROs taking decisions in Punjab while in other provinces the decisions were taken by the provincial election commission?”

Responding to a question, he said what forced the party to resort to protests against rigging was the non-cooperative attitude of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

He announced the PTI members would return to the National Assembly now. “We will not take to the streets on this issue,” he said while praising the chief justice for conducting the probe efficiently.


Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2015.