ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan on Monday said that National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq should be suspended until results of forensic evidence of rigging in NA-122 he has submitted to the tribunal arrive.
Speaking to the media after meeting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan here, he said that he has requested for daily tribunal hearings.
The PTI chief went on to say that he has also requested the CEC that overseas Pakistanis should be given the right to vote in the next elections as well as a biometric system should be introduced for the polling process.
He demanded that two task forces be formed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) – one for right of vote to overseas Pakistanis and another for introducing biometric system for next general elections in the country.
He further said that the tribunals were supposed to make their decisions within four months and it has now been two years.
Khan also said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is so incompetent that they do not even know how to rig polls properly. He said that after forensic tests, there is evidence that there is a difference in signatures of Presiding Officers.
He went on to say that the Returning Officers (RO) had no records of Form 15s with them and that 20 polling stations have the same person’s signature.
The PTI Chief said that the PML-N is demanding that the tribunal results should not reach the Judicial Commission.
The PTI chief also claimed that the value of a vote for the Senate elections has reached two million rupees and after the discovery of secret ballots, the PTI is pursuing open balloting for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khan threatened that his party could resume the protest. “If all doors to getting justice are closed to us, we will come out on the streets again. We will not give up our struggle for justice.
PTI leaders Jahangir Tareen, Arif Alvi and former law minister Babar Awan were also present at the meeting with the CEC.
The meeting took place two days after an election tribunal in Lahore turned down Imran’s plea for action against an inquiry commission that inspected the record of election in NA-122. The PTI chief had sought re-inspection of the records of certain polling stations in the constituency.
Disposing application, tribunal member Kazim Ali Malik had said that at this stage it was premature for the PTI leader to seek re-inspection. The tribunal has set Feb 7 as the next date for hearing.
Imran Khan had alleged that the commission had not followed its terms of reference and that it had committed breach of trust by giving statements to media.
Retired sessions judge Ghulam Hussain Awan was appointed by the tribunal to inspect the record. The result of the election remained unchanged after the process.
After an audit of a number of polling stations in NA-122 constituency, both the ruling PML-N and the PTI have been making contradictory claims.
INP