ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sunday reiterated that the party would form governments in the Centre and provinces, recalling how some had commented that the party would not have even candidates or polling agents for election but people polled over 30 million votes for the party.
Senior PTI leaders -- Omar Ayub Khan, party’s prime ministerial candidate, and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan spoke to the media here. Omar Ayub explained they had the highest number of people who had filed nomination papers but their mandate was stolen across the country, including Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Even in Karachi, our 18 NA seats were stolen by the MQM, he added.
Ayub expressed gratitude to the founding chairman Imran Khan for naming him for the slot of PM and said that the objective of party-backed candidates, who won the Feb-8 polls, would be to go to assemblies and take steps for the recovery of Imran, Bushra Bibi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Parvez Elahi as well as women workers and activists.
Omar Ayub claimed to have won 180 National Assembly (NA) seats, alleging that the party’s mandate was stolen. He demanded the formation of a judicial commission to look into the charges levelled by the Rawalpindi commissioner a day earlier regarding polls rigging. He claimed the party’s stance on polls rigging had been endorsed by the commissioner.
Omar Ayub emphasized that the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) was honourable, but he should not be a part of the proposed judicial commission as his name had also been mentioned by the commissioner with reference to alleged rigging. Gohar clarified that their party was not demanding the resignation of chief justice. However, the PTI Central Media Department shared a statement of the party’s spokesperson who demanded that along with the chief election commissioner, the chief justice and others allegedly involved in rigging should step down.
The PTI, Gohar claimed, had won 180 seats in the National Assembly, including 42 seats from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 115 from Punjab, 16 from Sindh and four from Balochistan. However, he insisted, the party’s success was not reflected in the results of February 8, accordingly.
Instead, “we were given one seat in Balochistan, three are due. In Sindh, we were not given even a single seat and all 16 are due. In Punjab, around 50 seats are due as per the Form 45.” He alleged that after polling, there was a deliberate delay in the announcement of provisional results.
Ayub said their majority in Punjab was diluted and majority in Sindh removed and seats in Balochistan were also reduced. “This is why from day one we have only one demand that results be declared in accordance with Form 45,” he added.
Commenting on Pindi commissioner’s allegations, Gohar pointed out that it was for the first time a commissioner was raising his voice according to his conscience. “This corroborates what we have been saying. That is why the PTI demands that a judicial commission should be formed and an inquiry conducted. And not just an inquiry, but those involved should be made to join the inquiry and the report of such an inquiry should also be shared with the people,” he demanded.
He called for issuing results based on Form 45 so that things could move forward towards the formation of the government, side by side with the judicial inquiry.
He insisted that Form 47 should be issued in accordance with the results, calculated in the Form 45, alleging the rigging carried out against the party was the ‘mother of rigging’ and was rejected by the party. He added many political parties were staging protests against the way the election was conducted and results manipulated.
Omar said a judicial commission involving independent judges should be formed and those who had been named by the Rawalpindi commissioner should not be a part of it.
