Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday urged the chief election commissioner, Justice (r) Sardar Raza Khan to take action against all those officials responsible for irregularities in the general elections 2013.
The written request came after the PTI failed to prove its allegations of massive rigging in the elections before a judicial commission formed to probe the allegations. The commission in its judgment said that although it had taken note of irregularities committed in the polls, yet it had found that the elections were largely fair and conducted in accordance with the law.
Ostensibly shaken by the JC report, the PTI chief trained his guns on the Election Commission, accusing them of failing to hold transparent polls and calling for resignations of all four members of the election watchdog.
However on Thursday, Khan moved the ECP chairman and sought his intervention in the issue to ensure that future elections are held in a transparent and organized manner.
In a letter sent to the CEC, the humbled PTI chief sought “action” against those responsible for “breaches and illegalities” committed in the 2013 general elections. Khan also called for disciplinary and legal action against all officials responsible for lapses in the last general elections.
The six-page letter also refers to various election clauses and sections of the report framed by the enquiry commission which was presented on July 22.
The PTI chief pointed out that since the commission had found “serious, systematic and pervasive failures and breaches by the Election Commission of Pakistan”, it was time for the CEC to fix responsibility and take action against those over those found responsible for these breaches.
“…. the inquiry commission has observed that the ECP had ample time to organise the May 2013 general elections, but it did not seem to have any way of knowing how things were progressing on the ground either prior to or during the election day… There was no monitoring wing in the ECP, there seemed to be no way for the ECP to know whether or not its directions were being implemented,” Khan stated in the letter.
He asked the ECP chief to provide the PTI with a detailed explanation on the measures that “the ECP now proposes and undertakes to introduce and implement so as to address, rectify, and cure each and every one of the failures, breaches illegalities identified by the Inquiry Commission so that the possibility of reoccurrence of the same is avoided.”
Khan asked the CEC to register cases against those who were found ‘negligent’ during the elections keeping in view the Representation of People Act, 1976 (ROPA). The PTI chief also demanded that an enquiry be initiated to investigate the ‘disappeared’ ballots paper of the Elections 2013.
KHAN TELLS SUPPORTERS TO STOP CRITICISING JC REPORT:
Meanwhile, talking to editors and columnists in Lahore, Khan urged his party members to stop crticising the judicial commission’s report since he has accepted it as per his commitment.
“This is our victory because never in (the history of) Pakistan such an investigation has been undertaken,” Khan said. “I witnessed myself the proceedings of the commission and saw that it was carried out well.”
“We can only move ahead if an enquiry is conducted against the people who were responsible for the mismanagement in the 2013 elections,” he added.
The PTI chief stressed that this commission would not have been formed if his party, along with the people, had not taken to the roads. “We would be clueless what kind of rigging took place in elections if this commission report was not presented,” Khan said.