Rat in the PTI intra-party poll?

Rumour mills have started grinding over the alleged rigging in the intra-party elections of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan Today has learnt.

According to details, the police is investigating allegations against one faction of the PTI, whose workers are also under arrest, after they allegedly wreaked havoc at Kissan Hall, the central office of the Election Commission of the party.

According to details, a group of armed men attacked their own Election Commission Secretariat for showing bias towards the winning group because the ballot boxes were “missing” from the scene. The attackers include Mehmood ur Rasheed’s brother and scores of other PTI members including members of the Insaaf Students Federation (ISF).

Alarm bells started ringing when after the results of the major seats had been announced, the ballot boxes went ‘missing’ and the rumour spread that they had been taken away by a particular group of the PTI. A large crowd gathered inside the EC’s central office where ballot boxes were found placed at the back seat of the car of EC’s head. The attackers broke the car windows and destroyed the ballot boxes and the election records, besides attacking the office bearers.

According to further details, the EC had only announced the results for the slots of the president and general secretary of the district, while each voter had cast 48 votes. The destruction of the entire election record has put the rest of more than 40 seats in jeopardy, while the entire process of elections has become an “exercise in futility”.

Chief Election Commissioner Hamid Khan has constituted a committee headed by Gen (r) Anees Bajwa to probe the matter, who has visited Kissan Hall, got statements from the people concerned but has not announced any decision so far.

Head of District Election Commission Fayyaz Mehar said after the results of the district president and general secretary were announced, all stakeholders left the polling area after signing the results. “The party high-ups were contacted, but no one responded, so we decided to take the ballot boxes to my place because counting for the rest of the seats had yet to be done,” he said. To a question, he said all allegations of rigging or biasness were false because the ballot boxes were in his car which was parked at the Kissan Hall and the decision was taken unanimously.

“People have many reservations and many petitions have been filed with the EC,” Mehmood ur Rasheed said, adding that people had been “pressurised and bribed” and all these complaints had been filed with the authorities concerned.

“We conducted elections in KP and Punjab and we only faced problems in a few district. This does not mean that the elections have failed,” PTI Information Secretary Shafqat Mehmood said while talking to Pakistan Today.

“When the Election Commission of Pakistan organises elections across the country with billions of rupees budget still mess ups still happen. The PTI has written history by holding intra-party elections with limited resources, which should be appreciated,” he said.

To a question, he said the concerned committees have been constituted already which would come up with a decision soon.