There should not be any doubt about rigging now: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday said that after the election tribunal’s verdict against Khawaja Saad Rafique, there should be no doubt now about the rigging done in the 2013 general elections, asking how long the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will continue to fool the nation.
A visibly relaxed and relieved Imran predicted here at a news conference once again that 2015 is the election year as the rigging by the PML-N had started coming out and the public could see how the PTI’s mandate was stolen. “My struggle is for the educated youth and middle class as they can never be elected to the assemblies if the present electoral system is not amended to ensure a transparent electoral process,” the PTI chief said.
He greeted the masses, especially those who took part in his party’s sit-in, and remarked, “If there was no Dharna for 126 days, they (the PML-N) would have completed their five-year term in government by dragging the cases in the courts.”He said Khawaja Saad Rafique was now a stranger in parliament, saying he sees Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also becoming a stranger soon.
The Judicial Commission, he emphasised, should summon Returning Officers and Presiding Officers of the NA-125 and question them as to how the rigging took place under their watch.Imran said the re-election in the constituency was of no use until those involved in the rigging were punished for their crime.
On this occasion, Imran urged the Judicial Commission to probe rigging in 2013 general polls through a Special Investigation Team (SIT). “It is part of the terms of reference of the Judicial Commission to constitute an SIT to probe rigging in the elections,” he maintained.
“It is the mandate of the Judicial Commission to decide whether the general elections were rigged or not,” he said, adding that his struggle against the rigging and the subsequent 126-day dharna have started bearing fruit.
The complete verdict of 80 pages in the NA-125 constituency is yet to come, but the election tribunal in its short order has ordered for re-election in the constituency, giving new turn to the already murky political scene.He questioned the justice system of the country, saying that a person, who had been de-seated by the election tribunal in the rigging case, had served as federal minister for two years.
Imran said that his party had been struggling for a year to expose rigging in the 2013 general elections but they were denied justice. “We were left with no option but to turn to the streets and protest against the government,” he remarked.
The PTI chairman pointed out that Jehangir Khan Tareen had spent almost Rs20 million so far to get justice in the election rigging case.About his own constituency NA-122, he said that National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had to give a report on votes checked by it in the last week but it has not done it so far.
“The government is pressurising Nadra over the report on my constituency ... if Nadra fails to release the report this week, I’ll go to meet the authority’s chairman and ask him about the report,” he said.He charged that brother of Justice (R) Ramday, Chaudhry Asadur Rehman was Member of the National Assembly on a stay order from the Lahore High Court.
Online adds: Meanwhile, talking to Online, PTI Central Secretary Information said that election tribunal’s decision in NA-125 constituency has supported PTI’s stance on rigging.She expected the same verdicts in other constituencies and added that Saad Rafique, who is no more a minister, should accept tribunal’s result that he has come through rigging.
She stated that the result should have been announced in four months but it took two years whereas the PTI will again give ticket to Hamid Khan for contesting election from NA-125 constituency.Talking about Cantonment Board elections, she added that PTI’s leadership is looking into it.