Last Updated: February 18, 2024, 13:10 IST
PTI supporters watch the final election outcomes at a PTI workplace in Islamabad, Pakistan February 8, 2024. (Reuters)
Pakistan’s election fee types committee to analyze allegations of rigging in Rawalpindi. PTI protests in opposition to alleged election fraud
Pakistan’s high election physique has shaped a high-level committee to probe the explosive allegations levelled by a senior bureaucrat that rigging occurred in opposition to former prime minister Imran Khan’s social gathering within the garrison metropolis of Rawalpindi.
Former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha on Saturday alleged that the candidates who had been “losing” the elections “were made to win” within the metropolis. He claimed that 13 candidates from Rawalpindi had been forcefully declared winners. His remarks got here amid jailed ex-PM Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: social gathering started nationwide protests in opposition to alleged rigging and stealing of its mandate within the February 8 elections.
“I am taking the responsibility for all this wrongdoing and telling you that the chief election commissioner and the chief justice are also completely involved in this,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper. Chattha resigned from his workplace after ”accepting accountability” for the manipulation of ballot outcomes. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has strongly rejected the allegations Chattha has made in opposition to the chief election commissioner.
Chief Commissioner Rawalpindi accepts rigging allegations & resigns, saying he selected to inform public that 70K+ leads are wrongfully transformed into losses. This confirms our stance that NA and PP seats have been rigged. #MandateThievespic.twitter.com/UV6BWAYSl2— PTI (@PTIofficial) February 17, 2024
The ECP held an emergency assembly to debate the commissioner’s allegations and shaped a high-level committee to probe the allegations. Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja attended the assembly by way of video hyperlink. In gentle of the committee’s report, the election regulator would determine whether or not or not the commissioner be tried for contempt.
The high-level committee will document the statements of the related district returning officers and returning officers and submit its report back to the ECP inside three days. The newly-appointed Rawalpindi Commissioner, Saif Anwar Jappa, rejected all of the accusations made by the previous commissioner concerning irregularities within the February 8 basic elections. He clarified that the commissioner’s position within the polls was just for coordination.
Stressing the equity and accuracy of the latest elections, the District Returning Officer (DRO) for Rawalpindi assured that the elections had been carried out with full transparency and with none exterior stress on them. Meanwhile, a nationwide disruption in social media platform X’s service has been reported in Pakistan as a result of “escalating unrest and protests” over allegations of election fraud, in line with Internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks. In a put up on X, the organisation added that the disruption passed off “following a high-level resignation and public admission of vote manipulation by a senior election official”.
Independent candidates – a majority backed by the PTI social gathering – received 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats that had been contested within the February 8 election. The PTI’s two predominant rivals seem heading in the right direction to type a coalition authorities after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) shaped a post-poll alliance final week. The PML-N received 75 seats whereas the PPP got here third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has additionally agreed to assist them with their 17 seats. To type a authorities, a celebration should win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats within the 266-member National Assembly.
(With company inputs)
RohitRohit is sub-editor at News18.com and covers worldwide news. He beforehand labored with Asian News International (ANI). He is fascinated with world a…Read More
Source: www.news18.com
