Imran demands resignation of ECP members

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman, Imran Khan, on Sunday demanded the immediate resignation of four members of the Election Commission for their alleged role in rigging the 2013 polls and asked the Nadra chief to also step down for covering up the rigging.
Imran, flanked by party leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jehangir Tareen, said they would consult their lawyers on Monday to consider the option of moving the Supreme Judicial Commission against the four Election Commission members. He had made a similar demand when the judicial commission announced its judgment a few weeks back.
He wanted answers to questions like why 25 million voters could not be verified, why the UNDP-funded result management system (RMS) did not work and the result was not duly compiled, and why candidates were not allowed to witness the process of result compilation. On the other hand, The News has learnt that the ECP members belonging to Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would sit together here on Monday (today) at the Election Commission Secretariat to consider various options about their future course of action, which could include tendering resignations.
The ECP member from Balochistan Justice (retd) Fazalur Rehman is still in Balochistan, following the demise of his son recently.
The PTI chief was speaking at a news conference after the national advisory council (NAC) meeting here a day after the poll tribunal called for re-polling in NA-122 and two provincial seats under it.
Imran said the forum through resolutions strongly condemned the Kasur child abuse scam and the provincial government’s alleged bid to harass the family members of the horrified victims. “It is shameful that our justice system always sides with the powerful, the one who commits offence and not the one who suffers or is the victim,” he regretted.
However, the PTI chief made it clear that they would not let the scam be pushed under the carpet by the provincial government and called the statement of Punjab law minister shameful, wherein he had claimed the real issue was of land and not the sex scam.
A tribunal result similar to the one announced on Saturday would be out on Wednesday in a petition filed by his party leader Jehangir Tareen, said Imran.
Imran said that denying people’s mandate through rigging was a criminal offence and all those who were involved in it must be proceeded against. He asserted that there would be no use of poll reforms if those behind the rigging in the 2013 polls were not punished.
Imran alleged that the four ECP members had played a massive part in destroying people’s mandate and on the basis of this, they could go to the Supreme Judicial Council against them. He lamented that a speaker whose own election was doubtful was running the assembly and the tribunal had proved this now.
The PTI chief said they were waiting for a reply from the chief election commissioner and had formed a committee to prepare a case, as they wanted action against the commission members.
Imran said the judicial commission had also established in its report that 35 percent of Form XV were found missing from the record, which meant the thumb verification of about 25 million voters was impossible. He said Nadra owed an explanation on this count.
He reminded that the judicial commission had given some 40 observations, highlighting irregularities, lapses and what he called organised rigging in the 2013 election. He added the Election Commission members, who were part of the electoral body at the time of the elections, failed to discharge their duties and there was no moral, ethical and legal justification for them to continue.
Imran said the Election Commission would respond to the letter he wrote to the chief election commissioner a few days back.
The PTI chief said it would be an exercise in futility if the characters behind rigging were not proceeded against and this would mean the local bodies elections and by-polls would be held in their presence.
He again made it clear that he had nothing personal against Ayaz Sadiq, as he just wanted the law to take its course and the next elections should be free and fair. Imran acknowledged that Sadiq had contested the polls on the PTI ticket and was the party’s founding member.
Imran lamented that by naming some generals, the rulers had tried to malign the army and pointed out that Nawaz Sharif’s ministers were speaking against the army and he was cutting an innocent figure.
He wondered how come it was possible that Nawaz was not aware of what his sacked minister was going to say against the ISI and its former head.
He noted that a conspiracy was made to paint the chief of the army staff and the ISI as separate entities, saying the PML-N was in the habit of maligning the army. He recalled how the ruling PML-N had tried to show that PTI had staged its sit-in last year on the desire of ex-ISI chief Lt General Pasha.
Imran said he had been demanding for over a year on different fora for opening of four NA constituencies or he would take to the roads and this had nothing to do with the ISI or the army. “But the rulers did not open the constituencies for they knew the elections were rigged,” he remarked.
On the question on PTI’s position on MQM lawmakers’ resignations, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the speaker should follow the prescribed procedure and they would accept it.