Saad’s lost it!

• Per verdict, reports, records tampered with, ballot bags opened with sharp object, with every voter casting six votes
• Saad Rafique claims he is being punished for ROs’ failure, ET didn’t disqualify him, Hamid Khan failed to prove rigging

An election tribunal (ET) on Monday ordered re-election in Lahore’s NA-125 and PP-155 constituencies after rigging on the seats during General Elections 2013 was proven.

The verdict said that the ballot bags had been opened with a sharp object and the records had been tampered with.

According to reports submitted by National Database and Regulation Authority (NADRA) and a local commission appointed by the ET, it was found that each person had cast six votes each on average.

Khawaja Saad Rafique will have to resign as a member of National Assembly, according to former Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) secretary Kanwar Dilshad. “Rafique can challenge the disqualification in court,” he added.

DON’T COUNT ME IN, THEY DIDN’T COUNT WELL:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique held a press conference soon after the ET’s decision blotted the legitimacy of the federal minister for railways.

Fluctuating between agitation and indifference, Saad Rafique ducked all high-bouncing allegations against him, claiming that the election tribunal (ET)’s decision to order re-election in NA-125 constituency was “actually against” the constituency’s presiding and returning officers (ROs) while “runner-up” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Hamid Khan had “failed” in proving rigging. He further claimed that only seven polling stations in the constituency had irregularities.

A visibly relaxed Rafique refused to acknowledge the tribunal’s rigging verdict, instead picking on a technicality in the judge’s decision.

“The tribunal’s decision proves that there was no rigging. Even though the judge could have said that rigging had taken place, he did not explicitly mention it,” Rafique asserted. He added that the tribunal judge’s decision may result in the disqualification of the ROs involved.

“If ROs are to be blamed for malpractice, then why am I and my voters being punished?” he lamented.

Hamid Khan’s lawyer had also contended that Rafique paid one of the residing officers Rs 20 million to rig the elections, to which the PML-N leader responded, “I don’t want to start a blame-game but Imran Khan says a lot of lies. So, if Hamid Khan lies once, I shouldn’t mind”.

Rafique said the decision to approach the Supreme Court with regards to challenging the tribunal’s verdict was something he could not take without consulting party members. He added that he was ready to contest the elections again.

In the meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared the verdict a blow for the government and said the matter would be taken to the Supreme Court.

SAAD’S SECOND PRESSER:

In his second address to media personnel on Monday, called especially to “clarify some points made by PTI chief Imran Khan”, Khawaja Saad Rafique said that if the tribunal had found him guilty of rigging, it would have disqualified him.

Rafique asked Imran Khan to make public NADRA’s report that said each voter had, on average, voted six times. “If this is true, we don’t have a case; these are all lies.”

Commenting on Imran Khan’s remarks with regards to the recent cantonment board elections, Rafique said disregarding cantonment results was an absurdity. “Were the elections held on a non-party basis? It was PTI versus the PML-N and we bagged 15 out of a total 20 seats in the cantonment elections held in NA-125,” said Rafique.

“The respected judges did not disqualify me because in their judgment they say that rigging has not been proven,” said Rafique. “The tribunal also said there were no reports or evidence pointing towards harassment or use of threats,” said the PML-N leader.

Rafique also retorted to Khan calling him a stranger in the House for two years. “Mr Khan, if I am stranger despite receiving 123,000 votes, what do you have to say about yourself and your MNAs who resigned from the National Assembly in front of the entire world?”

“Are you not a stranger in the House?” Rafique asked Khan. “We have tolerated strangers in the House so that the wheels of democracy continue turning.”

Rafique reciprocated his earlier statement that his voters are being punished for mistakes committed by a few presiding officers and the Returning Officer. He challenged Khan to personally conduct his party’s election campaign from NA-125 if and when a re-election is held.

“You will face the same fate you did in Karachi’s NA-246,” remarked Rafique.

Back in time, Rafique and Mian Naseer Ahmad from PML-N had won the 2013 General Elections from Lahore’s NA-125 and PP-155 constituencies respectively.

Rafique had secured 123,416 votes whereas his contender Hamid Khan had obtained 84,495 votes from NA-125 constituency. Meanwhile, Mian Naseer Ahmad had won the PP-155 election with 63,709 votes.

PTI Hamid Khan had challenged Rafique’s victory, alleging that the PML-N candidate had rigged the elections, and a large number of bogus votes were cast in his favour. He had requested the tribunal to declare the election null and void and announce re-election in the constituency.

Earlier, the election tribunal had reserved its verdict in a petition accusing PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique of rigging the 2013 election in NA-125 and cancellation of a notification declaring Rafique as the winner from the constituency.

The tribunal’s yesterday’s ruling comes months after PTI’s sit-ins in Islamabad over alleged mass scale rigging in the 2013 elections.