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Today's Paper | December 23, 2024

Updated 23 Aug, 2015 08:47pm

ECP provincial officials have no moral standing left and should resign: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan , while addressing a press conference on Sunday evening said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) provincial officials have no legal or moral standing left and they should immediately resign.

Imran also said that the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) chairman should also tender his resignation as he was part of covering-up the rigging that took place in the general elections of 2013.

“We want answers to our queries so that these issues are resolved before the upcoming by-polls and local body polls,” said Imran. If the ECP has to carry on conducting elections in this way, then there is no point having them, he asserted.

Read: Judicial commission verdict is against ECP, says Imran Khan

"Malpractices and illegalities while conducting elections are a criminal offence, and we demand that ECP take action against those who stole the people’s mandate,” stated Imran.

Commenting on the rumours circulating regarding the role of intelligence agencies in the PTI’s dharna, Imran termed the allegations as baseless and said “it is a general practice of PML-N to malign the armed forces”.

Imran was flanked by party leaders Shah Mehmod Qureshi and Jahangir Tareen.

Responding to another question regarding the issue of Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) return to the Parliament, Qureshi said that it is their party decision and the government should decide about their resignations.

Earlier in July, Imran Khan had accepted the findings of the judicial commission report which was formed to probe alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.

He had also said that it is not him but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who should apologise over the judicial commission's report, as all political parties are in agreement that there was rigging during elections.

Imran had said that the PTI was the only political party which brought proof of rigging, while the other 21 parties — which also admitted the elections were rigged — agreed with the party's point of view.

The judicial commission was formed on PTI's request to probe rigging allegations during the 2013 polls.

The three-judge commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, had held 39 sittings and completed the hearing on July 3.

The commission — constituted under a presidential ordinance on April 3 after months of a tug of war between the PTI and the PML-N — had commenced proceedings on April 9. It recorded testimonies of 69 witnesses, including politicians, government and judicial officers and journalists.

The ordinance expected the commission to submit its findings to the government as soon as possible, preferably within 45 days of its first meeting.

Also read: Imran Khan accepts findings of judicial commission report

Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan were the two other judges in the commission, which was constituted as a result of a memorandum of understanding signed between the PML-N and the PTI.

The PTI had staged a 126-day sit-in in Islamabad last year to press for its demand for a judicial inquiry into the rigging allegations.

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