Allegation of involvement of Pakistan’s CEC, Chief Justice in vote rigging muddies post-poll political scene

Islamabad/Lahore, Feb 17 (PTI) Nine days after Pakistan’s general elections, a senior bureaucrat stirred a hornet’s nest on Saturday by alleging widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party.

There is still no clarity on which party would form the government at the Centre as the February 8 polls threw a fractured mandate.

Independent candidates – a majority of them backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats and the party, which has been alleging rigging right from the polling day, has embarked on a nationwide protest against “stealing of its mandate.

PTI’s two main rivals, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had formed a post-poll alliance earlier this week, held a meeting on Saturday that made “a lot of progress” while discussing several issues but did not make any announcements on a coalition government.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha dropped the bombshell allegation that PTI claimed, “unmasked the real characters” involved in the mega polls theft scam converting PTI-backed independents clear-cut lead into defeat “forcibly and fraudulently.” Chattha resigned from his post, taking the “responsibility for all this wrongdoing” and was arrested soon after that.Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa termed his allegations as “baseless”, and demanded evidence from him but hinted that he may not initiate contempt proceedings over the allegations.

The Election Commission of Pakistan, in a press statement, “strongly rejected” the allegations and said that no official of the Election Commission ever issued any instructions regarding changing the election results to the Commissioner, Rawalpindi.

Khan’s rival Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N party drew attention to the “political allegiance” dictating Chattha’s claims and said he was a cousin of a PTI-backed candidate, Ahmed Chattha, from one of the seats.

The PML-N, in a post on X, also alleged that Chatta had a connection with Malik Riaz, who is an active member of PTI in London, a charge denied by Riaz.

Imran Khan, however, applauded the “incriminating confession by the Commissioner of Rawalpindi,” which he said confirmed “robbing PTI of at least 13 National Assembly seats in Rawalpindi Division alone.” “His statement serves as a stark revelation of the countrywide systematic manipulation of election results where PTI’s significant leads were deceitfully tampered into losses,” said a post on Khan’s official X handle.

He also called for a “fair investigation and meaningful trial of all those involved in this brazen mandate theft.” “The CEC had no legal and moral justification to remain in office anymore; hence he should quit his office instantly and return the stolen seats to PTI immediately,” the party said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Ishaq Dar, a senior PML-N leader, said a detailed meeting of the coordination committee of PML-N and PPP was held in Islamabad which saw a detailed discussion on the proposals given by both sides.

“A lot of progress was made on the issues and the two sides are meeting again on Monday to finalise the matter,” Dar said in a post on X.

In a related development, when all its efforts to form a government failed, Khan’s PTI declared to sit in the Opposition in Parliament even as it launched a countrywide agitation protesting the alleged rigging.

Following the protests throughout the day across the country, interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar warned that while peaceful protest and assembly are fundamental rights, “anarchy and disorder” will not be tolerated in Pakistan.

“Parties and individuals who harbour any concerns regarding electoral irregularities are encouraged to pursue legal recourse through the available channels. Pakistan’s legislative, judicial, and executive branches are resilient and stand ready to deliver impartial justice to all,” Kakar said in a post on X. PTI NSA SCY MZ NPK   AKJ AKJ

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