PTI seeks judicial probe into ‘rigging’

ISLAMABAD, May 3: The  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has demanded the formation of a judicial commission to probe alleged irregularities in the general elections and recommend electoral reforms to ensure transparency, level playing field, and meritocracy in the electoral system to minimise opportunities for manipulation.
In a white paper issued by the leaders of the former ruling party at a press conference on Thursday, the PTI presented a pathway towards democracy and political and economic stability of the country.
The documents dwelt on practices from the run-up to the elections to the issuance of the official gazette notification of results, claiming to expose the "corrupt practices, including alteration of final results through fudging, forgery and manipulation of Form-47".
The PTI said the polls needed to be investigated in order to give powers to the "true" public representatives. It also sought the resignation of the chief election commissioner (CEC) for conducting the "controversial" elections.
Speaking along with Opposition Leader in National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan and Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the press conference was being held "on one-point agenda and that was the election rigging".He claimed the document was based on "irrefutable" facts, wherein it was shown that the clear victory of the PTI candidates was "converted into defeat". He demanded that the Supreme Court immediately reclaim the mandate of the public at large, based on the results recorded in Form-45, and fix their long-pending petitions for hearing without any further delay.
The lawmakers said that an independent judicial commission, after a thorough probe into the electoral process, should identify those who were involved in the theft of the public mandate.
He also sought electoral reforms aimed at enhancing transparency, promoting fair play, and ensuring meritocracy within the electoral system with the purpose of minimising opportunities for manipulation.
Mr Gohar claimed that the PTI secured 180 seats in the National Assembly as per Forms-45 even though its leader Imran Khan had been jailed prior to polls. He claimed that all national and international media and neutral elections observers admitted the rigging and tampering of results. He said that PTI filed petitions regarding reserved seats, asking the ECP to quickly decide their petitions, with "158 petitions" pending across the country.
He recalled that different coercive tactics and steps were taken to influence the general elections as the PTI was deprived of the level playing field, the nomination papers of its candidates were rejected on flimsy grounds, and its electoral symbol was snatched to create problems for the PTI voters.    —DAWN