PTI’s candidate files plea in ECP, demands to annul NA-122 by-poll
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Aleem Khan on Thursday submitted a plea in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) demanding to annul the NA-122 by-election as it was unfair due to transfer of votes from the constituency.
The PTI candidate reached ECP head office in Islamabad and expressed reservations over the results of the by-election.
The plea stated that the ECP record shows that 26,000 new voters were registered and 4,600 votes were transferred during last two years. Only 812 voters personally confirmed that they transferred their votes out of the constituency whereas votes of others had been shifted from the constituency against their will.
The plaintiff demanded valid record of transferred votes from NA-122 and asked the ECP to issue directives to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to cooperate in this regard.
Talking to media, Aleem Khan alleged that the voter lists were altered ahead of the election. He said that PTI seeks justice and will fight till the end.
“We have stronger evidence than we did before to de-seat Ayaz Sadiq,” Khan said.
National Assembly (NA) Speaker and PML-N leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who contested the NA-122 by-election against Aleem Khan in October reclaimed his seat from which he had been deseated by an election tribunal in August this year.
The tribunal’s decision followed a petition submitted by PTI Chairman Imran Khan who had challenged the 2013 election result on grounds of rigging.
Sadiq had been elected to the NA from the same constituency in the 2013 general elections, defeating PTI Chairman Imran Khan for the seat.
Aleem Khan made Sadiq and at least 10 others party to the petition filed with the ECP
The party alleged the PML-N attempted technical rigging in the by-polls, saying that votes had been deleted and new voters were registered.
A PTI press release says that between the 2013 general election and Oct 2015, 30,500 voters were added, transferred, or deleted from electoral rolls in the constituency.
During this time period, the party says, only 7,000 new voters came of age and were automatically recorded. Of the remaining 23,000 voters, records of only 812 voters were provided to the PTI by the ECP.
The ECP said that providing records of the rest of the voters is the responsibility of NADRA.
Aleem Khan claimed NADRA had not given the party any record despite being approached twice.
The party said the ECP, under the 1974 Electoral Rules Act should take suo motu notice, dismissing the results of the by-poll and ordering an inquiry into the incident.
The PTI said that those responsible should be punished. The party also said they had received reports of instances of voting irregularities and gave the example of an incident in which they claimed 30-50 people in one household cast votes during the by-election.
Following the NA-122 win, Sadiq took oath as an MNA and then was elected NA Speaker again, becoming the first person in the country’s history to have been elected National Assembly Speaker for the second time during the same government’s tenure.
