PPP senator issues white paper over ‘rigging’ in NA-124
Denies planning anti-govt protest, says Prime Minister Sharif ‘expert in shooting himself in foot’
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Monday termed the election results of NA-124 Lahore as “fake” and demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the election result of the constituency.
Ahsan issued a White Paper while providing evidence of electoral irregularities in NA-124 from where his wife Bushra Aitzaz had contested the 2013 General Elections. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Sheikh Rohail Asghar was declared successful in the constituency.
Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club, the PPP senator said that the inspection of 264 voting bags of the constituency has proven that elections were rigged at a large scale.
“145 voting bags were not sealed, while the record of a majority of bags was disposed off.”
Ahsan alleged that the documents of 10 polling stations were “unrelated” to the election. He further claimed that 53 out of 82 sealed bags did not contain Form-14 whereas 57 bags were devoid of Form-15.
“Counterfoils of 34 voting bags were destroyed,” he said, adding that only 227 certificates were verified out of which only 12 were objected by the opposing candidate.
He alleged that the seals of 107 polling bags out of 264 were broken while 38 were not sealed at all, adding that 227 certificates of Returning Officers (ROs) were also part of the white paper.
He alleged that someone formulated the results and gave them to the ROs.
“No lions (PML-N’s electoral symbol) were found from the bags.”
Everyone knows that the General Elections 2013 were rigged, said Aitzaz, but added that there is no need to cause unrest over it and ruled out the possibility of launching an anti-government protest movement.
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expert in shooting himself in the foot,” said Aitzaz.
However, the opposition senator vowed to continue to expose the government’s “wrongdoings”, while adding that those who looted the mandate of the people should be held accountable under the Representation of People Act.
“Article 6 does not directly apply on people involved in manipulating elections, however this illegal act is close enough to the afore mentioned article,” said the lawyer.
He also challenged the PM and other ministers for a face-to-face debate regarding proof of alleged poll rigging.
Also speaking on the occasion, former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the PPP had no plans of toppling the incumbent government.
“PPP’s prerogative is to bring facts to the fore,” said Kaira, adding that action can be taken against those who “stole public mandate”
However, rigging proof in a constituency or two does not make the whole election invalid, he added.
