GDA urges CJP to take suo motu notice of ‘rigged’ elections

Leaders of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) have called upon the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) to take suo motu cognisance of last week’s general elections, declare their results null and void and order re-polling in the country because of “massive irregularities and rigging”.

The demand was made by GDA General Secretary Dr Safdar Abbasi and other party leaders, including former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Jatoi, Sardar Abdul Rahim and Nand Kumar Goklani, while speaking at a press conference on Tuesday. They said that after the announcement of the polls’ results, the February 8 general elections have become controversial in the eyes of concerned quarters all over the world. They claimed that foreign governments are not ready to accept the results of the elections in Pakistan.

They also said the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) overwhelming victory in the polls in Sindh have become questionable because the people of the province have already allegedly rejected the former ruling party of Sindh.

They appealed to the intelligentsia, educated youth, journalists, intellectuals and writers in the province to take part in large numbers in the GDA’s sit-in at the Hyderabad Bypass on Friday to register their protest against the allegedly rigged elections. They claimed that false criminal cases are being registered against the GDA’s leaders, activists and supporters in Sindh, saying that the caretaker government should ensure justice and save the province from anarchy.

They also claimed that the people of the province are not ready to accept the “highly rigged” polls. They said the Election Commission of Pakistan has failed to discharge its obligation of ensuring free and fair general elections in the country. They pointed out that many concerned political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamaat-e-Islami, have also refused to accept the results of the general elections.

GDA invites JI

A delegation of the GDA led by Dr Safdar Abbasi and Sardar Abdul Rahim visited the Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq to invite the JI to join the GDA’s February 16 protest in Hyderabad against alleged rigging in last week’s general elections.

The delegation discussed the issues about rigging in the elections and the future course of action. JI city chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman claimed that the Pakistan People Party rigged the polls in Sindh.

Rehman demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issue Form 47 according to the results mentioned on Form 45 of the entire province’s national and provincial assemblies’ constituencies.

He assured the GDA delegation that the JI would participate in their Hyderabad sit-in. Dr Abbasi thanked the JI leadership for supporting the cause of the GDA. He claimed that a pre-written script has been announced in the name of election results. He also claimed that the results of the GDA’s candidates have been manipulated. He said that despite receiving the “highest” number of votes in their constituencies, the GDA’s candidates were not declared winners by the ECP. He also said that Rehman’s decision to relinquish the provincial assembly seat is a slap in the ECP’s face.