June 30, 2015
News
Election rigging claims: PTI discontented with ECP report
By Zeeshan GhayurISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) reiterated its stance on Monday regarding the missing Form 15 and termed the report submitted earlier by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as “biased”.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Nasirul Mulk heard the proceedings of the judicial commission (JC) formed for probing the alleged rigging in 2013 general election.
Abdul Hafeez Prizada, the counsel for PTI, held that the number of votes in Balochistan and Sindh was less when compared with the figures of 2008 general election.
The CJP responded that the ECP might have removed bogus votes after passing them through the verification process, which could have led to a decrease in vote count.
Pirzada submitted before the JC that possession of Form 15 by the returning officers (ROs) was a contradiction of the set rules and regulations of the ECP. He added that with exception to a few constituencies, Form 15 were missing in most constituencies, while there were cases of incomplete Form 15.
He claimed before the JC that rigging in Balochistan led to the broken seals of election bags.
Earlier, the counsel for ECP, Salman Akram Raja, in a detailed 33-page response to the JC held that the missing Form 15 did not imply that ‘planned and systematic rigging’ took place.
The report makes it clear that election results were ‘true reflection’ of ‘public mandate’.
The report says that Form 15 of 60,634 polling stations were available out of a total 69,763, which highlighted ‘negligence’ rather than an ‘organised scheme’. The report further highlights that there was ‘no evidence’ to prove that the presiding officers (POs) purposely did not seal the election bags. The ECP report maintains that the seals might have been broken during transportation and/or storage.
At the end of the session, PTI chief Imran Khan, while speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, alleged that the ECP ‘hid the material’ that could have proved rigging and had ‘misled’ the JC. Imran Khan further alleged that the ECP had come under the influence of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). He reminded the press that the ECP had on record taken oath of remaining neutral in the entire process.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk