Former PM Imran Khan’s party decides to sit in opposition in Centre and Punjab
- 16 Feb 2024
Tariq Butt / Agencies
The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Barrister Ali Saif has said the party has decided to sit in the opposition in the Centre and Punjab province in accordance with instructions of party founder Imran Khan.
Talking to the media after visiting the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) in Islamabad, Saif said: “We decided to sit in opposition despite the reality that if we received seats according to our votes and the results were not changed then maybe today we might have been in the Centre with 180 seats. Form 45 is the evidence that our candidates won.”
Earlier, PTI claimed that not only was the biggest electoral fraud committed in the Feb.8 general election but the democracy was also thus attacked. It said that these elections would be remembered in history due to the scale of rigging.
“Examples of rigging in the polls are galore,” PTI spokesperson Raoof Hassan told reporters in Islamabad, where a large number of party’s candidates had come claiming that they possessed Form 45s that showed them victors.
Different defeated candidates and other PTI leaders presented their views alleging that a massive rigging took place on Feb.8 at a party gathering, which was shown live on TV channels.
The PTI also alleged that the polls were “not free and fair” and plans to stage countrywide peaceful protests against the alleged rigging.
The spokesman said that the candidates who were winning as per Form 45 — collected from polling stations — were later declared runners-up in Form 47 — the consolidated result of a constituency.
He claimed a huge gap in votes polled for the national and provincial assemblies’ seats.
Salman Akram Raja, who contested from NA-128 Lahore and was defeated by Aoun Chaudhry, slammed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), claiming that “rigging took place from polling stations to the returning officers [Ros] offices.”
“What the people voted for was changed in the dark of night,” he said, adding that the PTI candidates were not allowed to campaign. He said that his voters were put in trouble by stripping the party of its electoral symbol – “bat” — but even then people remembered all the signs and cast their votes.
Another PTI candidate, Rehana Dar, who lost from NA-71 Sialkot, said that she was tortured and demanded justice. Dar maintained that she is ready for re-election. She said that she had never witnessed such an election in her life before. “I’ll file a case against them and they will tell everything before the court,” she added.
Shandana Gulzar claimed that the PTI got 1.25 million votes from Karachi alone.
“We had 154 seats in the National Assembly by 3am. We won 42 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the Election Commission of Pakistan declared us [PTI candidates] successful on just 32 seats,” she added.
PTI leader Seemabia Tahir alleged that PTI’s polling agents were expelled from various polling stations.
She also brought PTI senior leader Yasmeen Rashid’s defeat against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in NA-130 into the discussion, saying that the former was leading till night but the latter was declared winner the next morning.
Hasan said that according to the PTI estimates, out of 177 National Assembly seats which were supposed to be its, only 92 have been given to it. “And 85 seats have been taken away from us fraudulently,” he said and stated that the party was taking constitutional and legal steps in this regard.
“We have verified data about 46 seats and it is being compiled for 39 seats,” he said.
He said that the party had three ways to ascertain alleged rigging in the polls, saying that there were discrepancies between the Form 45 and the Form 47.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the Feb.8 general election provided a big opportunity to newcomers as 96 newly-elected lawmakers would take their seats in the National Assembly for the first time, the highest number of the first timers ever in Pakistan.
Elections were held on 265 out of a total 266 general seats of the National Assembly. Election in one constituency was postponed because of the death of a candidate. The results also showed more than 100 independent candidates were elected, which is also the highest number ever of independents.