ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election oversight body said this week it has formed a high-level committee to probe rigging allegations by a senior official, amid mounting protests and a deepening political crisis following the controversial Feb. 8 national polls.
Liaquat Ali Chattha, a senior bureaucrat and Rawalpindi commissioner, held a news conference on Saturday wherein he admitted to his involvement in manipulating the election results in 13 national constituencies. Chattha claimed Pakistan’s chief justice and the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) top official were also involved in manipulating the results of the elections.
Pakistan’s top judge and the ECP chief have strongly denied Chattha’s claims. Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which claims it won the general elections held this month but was denied victory due to rigging, organized nationwide protests on Saturday, asking both officials to step down after Chattha’s claims.
According to a statement released by the ECP on Saturday night, the election regulator held a “special meeting” attended by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and other members of the commission to discuss Chattha’s allegations.
“In the meeting, allegations leveled by the Rawalpindi commissioner were discussed and a high-level committee was formed to investigate these allegations,” the ECP said.
The ECP said a senior member of the commission would chair the committee, adding that it would also include the body’s secretary, special secretary and the additional director general of law.
“This committee will record the statements of the district returning officers of Rawalpindi and the relevant returning officers and will submit its report to the election commission within three days,” the ECP said.
The ECP said it would decide about proceeding with contempt charges and other legal action against Chattha once the committee publishes its report.
As political tensions in the South Asian country increase, Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar on Saturday urged all political parties to seek justice against alleged electoral fraud from the courts.
Pakistan’s recent general elections were marred by a nationwide shutdown of cellphone service and unusually delayed results, leading to accusations of election manipulation. The PTI and several other parties refused to accept the outcome, with protest demonstrations breaking out in different parts of the country against irregularities in vote counting.
No Pakistani political party emerged as the winner after the indecisive polls. Candidates backed by Khan, who could not contest the polls from the party’s platform but ran as independents, won the most seats. The PTI and other parties have rejected the election results, holding nationwide protests this week against it.
Meanwhile, former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have said that they have agreed to form a coalition government at the center.
