ECP response to my letter a 'joke': Imran

PTI chairman says he doesn't want to take to the streets; will go to the supreme judicial council after consultations

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday termed the response given by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to his letter a ‘joke’.

“This response sent by the ECP is a joke with me and people of Pakistan,” Imran Khan said, speaking at the press conference in Islamabad.

Crticising the ECP, Imran said it was his right to ask the questions he asked. “So what if the ECP is a constitutional body? Can they steal the whole nation's right and remain unanswerable?” Imran asked.

Read: 'PTI has no authority to dictate terms, seek explanation from ECP'

Imran further said that the judicial commission report and tribunal judgment presented recently were proofs that Elections 2013 were rigged. “It was also written in the judicial commission report that around 25 million ballot records were not found, which confirms that there was planned rigging in the elections.”

Imran alleged that four members of the ECP were involved with the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) in rigging the elections 2013.

The PTI chief went on to add that he questioned the 2013 elections to show the current system's shortcomings. "Can the same election commission with all its flaws hold the impending elections including local bodies’ polls?” Imran asked.

Read: NA-122 rigging allegations: Tribunal terms Ayaz Sadiq's election null and void 

Elaborating on his future course of action, Imran said he had assigned Shah Mehmood Qureshi to gather other politicians to force the election commission members involved in rigging to resign. “We will go to the supreme judicial council after consulting parliamentarians and raise this issue. I do not want to resort to more protests,” Imran said.

Earlier on Tuesday, expressing dismay over the “tone and tenor” of PTI chief Imran Khan’s letter, the ECP had made it clear that only a superior authority, not the PTI, can seek an explanation from the poll body.

While admitting that “a political party has every right to write to the ECP”, the poll body in its three-point response to PTI’s letter said no political party has any right to seek explanation or dictate its terms to the poll body as it would be “tantamount to impeding the independence of the ECP as enshrined in the Constitution.”

After a judicial commission probing alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections announced its verdict last month, PTI had written a letter to the ECP on July 30, seeking an explanation on its proposals to address and rectify the failures and breaches in the organisation and conduct of the 2013 general elections in view of the findings of the final report of the inquiry commission. In addition, the party had also asked the ECP to initiate criminal prosecutions against all concerned officials for breach of official duties during the elections.