PTI issues white paper against ‘rigging’ in elections

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday issued a white paper against what it called massive rigging and irregularities in the February 8 general elections, ARY News reported.

Addressing a presser, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and other senior party leaders said that the PTI’s mandate was ‘stolen’ in the general polls.

“In the elections held on February 8, we won at least 180 seats according to Form 45 but our mandate was awarded to other parties through Form 47,” Barrister Gohar.

The 234-page white paper raised a number of issues, such as alleged election manipulation to ‘exclude’ PTI from the political sphere, accusations of prejudice during the prolonged stay of the caretaker administration, and violations of constitutional mandates for election procedures.

The PTI reiterated its demand to release founder Imran Khan immediately. “politically-motivated cases against Imran Khan and other party members should be quashed,” the white paper read.

The PTI through white paper also urged the international community to support Pakistan’s democratic goals by presenting the issues at hand as ones pertaining to justice, constitutional rights, and democratic fundamentals.

Speaking on the occasion, Barrister Gohar said that that ahead of the general elections, efforts were made to oust his party from the electoral process.

Referring to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict that struck the PTI’s bat symbol, Barrister Gohar said that his party was compelled to run for the general elections without its recognisable electoral symbol.

He said that even after all efforts, the PTI won at least 180 National Assembly seats across the country.

“Manipulated election results in Form 47 turned our victory into defeat,” the PTI chairman added.

Omar Ayub, the secretary general of the PTI and opposition leader in the National Assembly, said that the ECP had been given billions of rupees to conduct free and fair elections in the nation yet it failed to do so.

Omar Ayub demanded the chief election commissioner to step down for conducting ‘opaque’ elections.

from ARY NEWS https://ift.tt/F8MQh6R