- PTI chief estimates Commission let 200 to 400 violators off the hook
- Says surprised over ECP demanding Rs 2.5 m from Hamid for vote verification
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has breached the law by pardoning those found involved in irregularities and rigging in elections.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Khan said the ECP was not entitled to pardon anyone, but it pardoned them because it itself was involved in rigging.
According to the PTI chief, the ECP has pardoned 200 to 400 persons found involved in rigging in the 2013 general elections.
“The judicial commission (JC) had established their involvement in irregularities. Had these people been put to trial, evidence of irregularities would have come to open,” asserted he.
The PTI chief recalled that the Supreme Court (SC) had issued orders for a vote recount in the constituency of Khawaja Asif, but he (Asif) did not appear before the returning officer (RO) despite being summoned four times.
About the ECP demanding Rs 2 million to Rs 2.5 million from Hamid Khan for verification of votes, Khan argued that the Commission had set the election expenses limit around Rs 1.5 million but it was surprisingly demanding Rs 2 million to Rs 2.5 million from Hamid for the verification. “This way the ECP is defying its own decision,” he said, as he remarked that seeking justice for a poor person in Pakistan was next to impossible.
The PTI chief also underlined that when Aleem Khan had approached the election tribunal (ET) in connection with irregularities committed during polls in his constituency, the tribunal replied that it could not hear this case and he should approach the ECP. “The Commission spent 60 days in this matter and later said that it could not hear this case because 60-day period had been completed,” he said, adding, “Aleem Khan will now move the Supreme Court for the sake of justice.”
Khan observed that transparent and fair elections could never be held in Pakistan, adding that as many as 22 political parties had expressed no confidence in the ECP over the irregularities in the 2013 general elections.
About the elections in Kashmir, the PTI chief said that Barrister Sultan was demanding that verification of votes be conducted through the NADRA.
Khan, to a question, said that Tasneem Noorani had no intention to tender resignation. “We are studying intra-party election system in vogue in the US and UK. Holding intra-party election at such large scale is impossible without using the channel of phone,” he added.
About the Ehtesab Cell in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khan said, “We set up the Ehtesab Cell for the first time in Pakistan and it took us two years to complete this process. We are now going to enact a new law in connection with accountability. The Ehtesab Commissioner will be provided full freedom under this law.”
About the by-polls in Gujranwala and Sialkot, Khan said that Hamid Nasir Chatha had demanded that army be deployed during the elections to avert rigging.
Regarding Mustafa Kamal’s presser on Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, the PTI chief said he had not political prudence at such scale so he could talk about politics of the MQM and Karachi. “Pakistani politics is not boring. There is a taste in it,” he added.
To another query, Khan said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had inducted favourites in every institution. “Cricket will continue to meet the same fate unless elections are held on merit,” concluded Khan.
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