• In a ‘white paper’, ex-ruling party demands poll reforms, ECP chief’s removal; asks SC to hear its pending pleas
• Tribunal seeks Form-45 and Form-46 for three Islamabad constituencies

ISLAMABAD: The PTI has demanded the formation of a judicial commission to probe alleged irregularities in the general elections and recommend electoral reforms to ensure transparency, level playing field, and meritocracy in the electoral system to minimise opportunities for manipulation.

In a ‘white paper’ issued by the leaders of the former ruling party at a press conference on Thursday, the PTI presented a pathway towards democracy and political and economic stability of the country.

The documents dwelt on practices from the run-up to the elections to the issuance of the official gazette notification of results, claiming to expose the “corrupt practices, including alteration of final results through fudging, forgery and manipulation of Form-47”.

The PTI said the polls needed to be investigated in order to give powers to the “true” public representatives. It also sought the resignation of the chief election commissioner (CEC) for conducting the “controversial” elections.

Speaking along with Opposition Leader in National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan and Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the press conference was being held “on one-point agenda and that was the election rigging”.

He claimed the document was based on “irrefutable” facts, wherein it was shown that the clear victory of the PTI candidates was “converted into defeat”. He deman­ded that the Supreme Court immediately re­­claim the mandate of the public at large, based on the results recorded in Form-45, and fix their long-pending petitions for hearing without any further delay.

The lawmakers said that an independent judicial commission, after a thorough probe into the electoral process, should identify those who were involved in the theft of the public mandate.

He also sought electoral reforms aimed at enhancing transparency, promoting fair play, and ensuring meritocracy within the electoral system with the purpose of minimising opportunities for manipulation.

Mr Gohar claimed that the PTI secured 180 seats in the National Assembly as per Forms-45 even though its leader Imran Khan had been jailed prior to polls. He claimed that all national and international media and neutral elections observers admitted the rigging and tampering of results. He said that PTI filed petitions regarding reserved seats, asking the ECP to quickly decide their petitions, with “158 petitions” pending across the country.

He recalled that different coercive tactics and steps were taken to influence the general elections as the PTI was deprived of the level playing field, the nomination papers of its candidates were rejected on flimsy grounds, and its electoral symbol was ‘snatched’ to create problems for the PTI voters.

Omar Ayub Khan said that CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja should resign immediately for allegedly acting as a facilitator in undermining the people’s mandate and conducting the “most controversial elections” in Pakistan’s history.

He also demanded the release of Imran Khan and an end to all “politically motivated” cases against him and other PTI workers. He stated that PTI’s seats were snatched and they had “all the evidence” in this regard.

Speaking on the occasion, Shibli Faraz claimed that the people voted in support of Imran Khan’s nominees despite the loss of the PTI’s electoral symbol bat but their votes were given to the losing candidates.

He said that the PTI was deprived of the election symbol despite holding its intra-party elections thrice.

Speaking on the occasion, Musaddiq Abbasi said that the whitepaper detailed information from the national and international electronic and print media and records provided by the party candidates.

He claimed that the “mainstream media” at 3am reported that the PTI Independents, as per Forms-45, had surpassed the simple majority by attaining 154 clear wins, followed by the PML-N, the PPP, and the MQM.

Musaddiq Abbasi stated that Fafen — an independent poll watchdog — reported that its observers were not allowed in 135 constituencies out of a total of 260 by the returning officers, adding that ROs also prohibited candidates from participating in the tabulation process in 65 constituencies.

ET for Islamabad constituencies

Separately, an election tribunal headed by Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri of the Islamabad High Court asked the ECP and runner-up candidates to submit “original” Form-45 and Form-46 about the NA-46, NA-47, and NA-48 constituencies of the federal capital.

The tribunal was hearing the petitions filed by Amir Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen and Mohammad Ali Bukhari of the PTI who challenged the election results citing rigging.

As per Form-47 for NA-47, PML-N’s candidate Tariq Fazal Chaudhry bagged 102,502 votes against PTI’s Shaheen, who took 86,396 votes.

In NA-48, Raja Khurram Shehzad, who was the joint nominee of the PML-N and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), contested the elections as an independent candidate. He defeated Mr Bukhari by securing 69,699 votes against Bukhari’s 59,851 votes. He joined the PML-N after the election. PML-N’s Anjum Aqeel Khan won the NA-46 seat with 81,958 votes.

Bukhari’s counsel advocate Syed Ashfaq Naqvi argued before the court that under the Elections Act, the presiding officer was under obligation to mention the total number of valid votes as well as those excluded from the count in Form-45, adding that such details were not mentioned in the form.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2024