Pakistan elections 2024 | Imran Khan's PTI demands judicial probe in alleged poll rigging

PTI demands judicial commission to probe election rigging allegations, as former PM Imran Khan's party protests nationwide.

Jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party demanded a judicial commission to probe a senior bureaucrat's allegation that the election body and the top judiciary were involved in vote rigging on Februrary 18.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha on Saturday alleged that the candidates who were “losing” the elections “were made to win” in the city. Before resigning from his post, he claimed that 13 candidates from Rawalpindi were forcefully declared winners. His remarks came as jailed former prime minister Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party began nationwide protests against alleged rigging and stealing of its mandate in the February 8 elections.

“I am taking responsibility for all this wrongdoing and telling you that the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Justice are also completely involved in this,” Mr. Chattha said. He resigned from his office after "accepting responsibility" for the manipulation of poll results.

Senior PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Feb. 18 said that the party was demanding a judicial commission to investigate the claims of ‘rigged election results’ and share the probe report with the nation. He said that Mr. Chattha's allegations corroborated what the party had been saying all along. “This is the first time a Commissioner is raising his voice according to his conscience. He said that he made sure candidates who lost were made to win while those who won were made to lose. This corroborates what we have been saying,” he said.

“That is why the PTI demands that a judicial commission be formed and an inquiry be conducted. And not just an inquiry, but those [involved] should be made to join the inquiry,” he said, adding that the report of such an inquiry should also be shared with the people.

Mr. Khan also stated that the party was not calling for the resignation of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. He alleged that efforts were made to keep the party out of the electoral arena when people, responding to 71-year-old PTI leader Khan's call, went to the polling stations in huge numbers.

“We had won 180 seats in the National Assembly, 42 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, 115 in Punjab, 16 in Sindh, and four in Balochistan Assembly,” he said. He added that the PTI had been given one seat in Balochistan, and three were due. “In Sindh, we did not get a single seat, they are all due. In Punjab, around 50 seats are due,” he said.