Barrister Gohar demands judicial commission to probe Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Chatha’s poll rigging claims
Says Commissioner Chatha’s statement affirmed PTI’s stance
Says the poll organizing authority has not yet announced the final vote results as per the real mandate
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
After Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha’s statement regarding alleged rigging in the February 8 nationwide polls, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has demanded the establishment of a judicial commission to probe the allegations.
“Commissioner Chatha’s statement affirmed PTI’s stance,” Barrister Gohar said while addressing a press conference along with Omar Ayub Khan in Islamabad on Sunday. “The commissioner raised his voice due to his sense of right and wrong.”
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that his party demands a judicial commission to investigate the claims of ‘rigged election results’ and share the probe report with the nation.
“We are not demanding the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) resignation [….] An inquiry must be held on the commissioner’s allegations,” he added.
The erstwhile PTI chairman also criticized the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), saying that the poll organizing authority has not yet announced the final vote results as per the real mandate.
He claimed that his party won 180 National Assembly seats. “We won 42 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 115 in Punjab, 16 in Sindh and 4 in Balochistan. The PTI was deliberately not given a single seat in Sindh. Form 45 was not given to only the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf polling agents.”
Barrister Gohar also demanded the election commission order returning officers (ROs) to compile Form 47 in accordance with the records of Form 45. The former ruling party also demanded the announcement of election results in accordance with Form 45.
PTI central general secretary Omar Ayub Khan on the occasion said that the Imran-founded party was being cornered through illegal tactics like police raids, fake cases and threatening the party leaders and workers.
He hopes that PTI will form its government in the Centre and provinces. Omar urged ECP to issue notification of “180 successful PTI candidates”.
Regarding the party’s strategy for alliances, Omar said that PTI was not making any deal with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Omar Ayub insisted that the judicial commission’s report should be made public. He stressed that individuals mentioned by the former commissioner should not be part of the investigation, further suggesting that Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja remain separate from the proceedings.
Omar Ayub maintained that JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s admission regarding the engineered no-confidence vote against the former PTI government, along with Liaquat Ali Chatta’s confession regarding electoral malpractices, corroborated PTI’s stance.
Omar Ayub pointed out that PTI’s seats were also reduced in Balochistan, with defeated candidates declared winners through electoral manipulation. He demanded that electoral results should be in adherence to Form 45.
According to Omar Ayub, the only solution to the widespread uproar over electoral irregularities is to issue Form 47 based on Form 45.
He urged the ECP to release the notification about the success of 180 independent candidates affiliated with the PTI. The PTI, Omar Ayub emphasized, aimed to form governments at the federal and provincial levels.
Omar Ayub mentioned that despite the revocation of PTI’s electoral symbol, the “bat,” by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the party succeeded in the elections.
The PTI leader recalled that every party worker was subjected to police surveillance with attempts made to intimidate the party leadership.
He claimed that the 18 seats in Karachi, which the PTI was winning, were dished out to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), demanding the PTI-backed candidates in Karachi be declared successful.