Pakistan News: Days after voting in the general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan has formed a high-level committee to investigate the explosive allegations levelled by a senior bureaucrat pertaining to widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, as reported by news agency PTI.
On Saturday, former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha alleged that the candidates who were “losing” the elections “were made to win” in the city, PTI reported. He claimed that 13 candidates from Rawalpindi were forcefully declared winners.
Chattha's remarks came amidst jailed Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which began nationwide protests against alleged rigging and stealing of its mandate in the February 8 elections. “I am taking responsibility for all this wrongdoing and telling you that the chief election commissioner and the chief justice are also completely involved in this,” as quoted by PTI, citing the Dawn newspaper.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Chattha Resigns
The Rawalpindi Commissioner resigned from his office after "accepting responsibility" for the manipulation of poll results, PTI reported. The ECP has strongly rejected the allegations Chattha has made against the chief election commissioner. The poll body held an emergency meeting to discuss the allegations levelled by the commissioner and formed a high-level committee to probe the allegations.
According to PTI, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja attended the meeting via video link. The election regulator would decide whether or not the commissioner should be tried for contempt in light of the committee’s report. The committee will record the statements of the relevant district returning officers and returning officers and submit its report to the ECP within three days.
The newly-appointed Rawalpindi Commissioner, Saif Anwar Jappa, refuted all the accusations made by the former commissioner regarding irregularities in the general elections, as reported by PTI. He also clarified that the commissioner's role in the polls was only for coordination.
The District Returning Officer (DRO) for Rawalpindi emphasised the fairness and accuracy of the recent polls and assured that the elections were conducted with complete transparency and without any external pressure on them.
Disruption In Social Media Platform X In Pakistan Due To 'Unrest And Protests'
Amid the escalating "unrest and protests" in Pakistan, a nationwide disruption in social media platform X’s service has been reported, PTI reported. According to Internet tracking organisation NetBlocks, the unrest pertains to allegations of election fraud.
In a post on X, the organisation added that the disruption took place “following a high-level resignation and public admission of vote manipulation by a senior election official.”
PML-PPP Alliance Likely To Form Govt In Pakistan
Independent candidates, a majority backed by the PTI party, won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats that were contested in the February 8 election. The two key rivals of Imran Khan's PTI appear on course to form a coalition government after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) formed a post-poll alliance last week, as reported by PTI.
The PML-N won 75 seats, while the PPP came in third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has also agreed to support them with their 17 seats. To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.