LAHORE, Dec 14: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s four applicants, including chairman Imran Khan, for recount of votes along with thumb impression verification in four constituencies will attend the Supreme Court proceedings on the issue on Monday (tomorrow).

Imran told a news conference here on Saturday that the rigging allegations must be investigated in detail to find out how rigging was committed and responsibility be fixed. “The PTI will not go for midterm election and focus on vote recount in four constituencies for the time being,” he said.

He said the May 11 general elections were historic in the sense that all political parties including the PTI, the PML-N and the PPP had registered their rigging allegations. He said the federal government had itself admitted that almost 60,000 to 70,000 votes in each constituency were unattested. “What is the legitimacy of an election, wherein almost 60 per cent to 70 per cent votes polled were fake,” he wondered.

“If the Punjab government thinks that elections were held in a fair and transparent manner, then why it is afraid of PTI’s election petitions and moving courts to stop the verification process,” Imran asked. He said the PTI would be ready to hold recount in any constituency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if any party applied.

He said the KP government would also take all parties into confidence during the local elections. The provincial government, he said, had decided to hold local polls on a non-party basis in villages to ensure that there should not be any divide at the village level, which could hamper development.

He said India had organised elections at mass level and declared results within hours and there were no complaints of rigging. The losers felicitated the winners. “If India can hold free and fair elections, why Pakistan cannot do so,” he asked.

PROTEST: He said the PTI’s scheduled protest against national ills on Dec 22 would revive party’s tsunami. He said the party had given ample time to the government to resolve the problems of the masses.

Answering a question about execution of Jamaat-i-Islami’s Abdul Quader Mollah in Bangladesh, the PTI chief said there was a need to move forward and Mollah should have been pardoned. He said Nelson Mandela’s example should have been followed in granting pardon to the accused.

NEW ENTRANTS: Former PML-N MNA from Faisalabad Dr Khalid Imtiaz Baloch and a former town nazim announced their joining the PTI at the press conference.

Former MNA from Kasur Sardar Tufail Ahmad Khan and former MPA Chaudhry Ilyas Gujjar along with their supporters also joined the party.