Islamabad, May 2: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has released a comprehensive white paper, alleging large-scale rigging in the February 8 general elections and has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja.
The party has also demanded a judicial commission to investigate the claims, citing evidence of fraud and manipulation.
Chairman PTI, Barrister Gohar, said that the white paper “contains concrete proof of electoral malfeasance” and urged the authorities to take immediate action.
The party said it is prepared to approach the courts to seek justice and ensure electoral reforms.
Umar Ayub, a senior PTI leader and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), holding him responsible for the Election Commission of Pakistan’s failure to conduct a transparent and fair election.
“We won the 180 seats in the [February 8] elections. Our seats were given to other parties through Form 47,” said PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar while addressing a press conference alongside other party leaders in Islamabad on Thursday evening.
He demanded the formation of a judicial commission to probe the “snatching of the 180 seats”.
The PTI chief said they had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the alleged rigging. “But the plea has not been fixed for hearing as yet,” he said.
“We are issuing a 234-page white paper to bring it to the notice of the people as to how their mandate was stolen,” Barrister Gohar said.
The PTI-backed independent candidates won the most National Assembly seats in the February 8 elections followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
However, the PML-N with the support of the other parties including the PPP formed a coalition government in the Centre and later became the single largest party in the lower house of the parliament following the allocation of the reserved seats.
The Imran Khan-founded party lost the right to the reserved seats as its members contested elections as independent candidates.
Referring to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to declare the party’s intra-party polls as invalid, the PTI chief, in the presser, said his party was forced to contest the general elections without its iconic ‘bat’ electoral symbol.
“Our victory was turned into defeat by [manipulating] election results in the Form 47,” he claimed.
He said the white paper is based on the reports of international organisations, foreign media and newspapers.
He also called for carrying out electoral reforms to eliminate rigging in the polls once and for all.
Speaking on the occasion, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub said the ECP was granted billions of rupees to hold free and fair elections in the country.
“We demand the chief election commissioner to step down,” he said accusing the polls organising body of failing to hold transparent elections in the country.
