ISLAMABAD Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders claimed that intelligence and security agencies were involved in the vote-rigging just one day after by-elections were held nationwide.
Declaring that April 21st will go down as a “black day” in Pakistani history, the party called on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to delay releasing the results and declared a series of rallies that would begin on Friday.
Election day is regarded as an accountability day, and voters cast enthusiastic ballots. On April 21, however, there were evident and open legal infractions. There has never been anything like this level of legal violations and rigging in Pakistani history. Polling place gates were closed, and more ballots were cast at some polling places than there were registered voters overall, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan stated at a press conference.
The PTI chairman, accompanied by Sunni Ittehad Council chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, said that at one polling station in Gujrat, election staff told him that 120 votes had been cast, but three boxes full of ballot papers were seen.
plans to protest Friday’s election fraud and calls for the prosecution of Punjab government officials for sedition
“Even though polling had not yet started, the candidate’s father told us that ballots had already been cast at one polling place. All of our concerns have been forwarded to the ECP, but the election monitor has not taken any action. He declared, “We demand that the ECP launch an investigation and reveal its plans for making sure that this kind of manipulation won’t happen again.
Raising concerns about the ECP’s legitimacy, he also questioned why returning officers (ROs) and district ROs from the judiciary weren’t involved in the program.
Barrister Gohar stated, “We went to another polling place and discovered that our polling agents were compelled to leave.”
Pre-election rigging, according to Omar Ayub, started when the internet was shut down. He further said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not “believe in transparency.”
He also presented the DRO with a letter from the RO of NA-8 Bajaur, in which the RO claimed that an intelligence officer had assaulted staff members.
The Bajaur government, meanwhile, has refuted the letter, calling it “doctored.”
Journalists were taken up by Punjab police and severely beaten. There have also been tales of agency staff donning Punjab police uniforms. Additionally, the police misbehaved with us and said they were powerless. The DIG Gujrat, SP Investigation, DSP, and SHOs—who also attacked journalists—will face legal prosecution, he declared.
Shehbaz Sharif, according to Mr. Ayub, received less votes in the general elections than the PML-N candidate running in the by-election.
“This is incomprehensible.”
“Next Friday, we and other parties will begin nationwide protests.”
“After that, we’re going to stage another protest in Faisalabad, arrange a public meeting in Karachi on May 5, and after that, there will be a number of public meetings all over the nation,” he stated.
He claimed that police officers had informed them that voting places were being barred from voter entry by intelligence services.
Sahibzada Hamid Raza said that rigging was taking place within the Punjabi administration.
He added that while making tapes and paying some people money, government agents coerced people into signing Form 45s.
He recommended filing sedition charges, including Article 6, against Punjabi government officials.
