A chorus of calls is growing louder to investigate the poll rigging allegations that Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha made in his press conference. The commissioner was scheduled to hold a press conference regarding the Pakistan Super League (PSL) arrangements at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Instead, he had an informal chat with reporters in which he made the bombshell claims.
Liaquat Ali Chattha, a senior bureaucrat and Rawalpindi commissioner, admitted in a press conference his involvement in manipulating the election results in 13 national constituencies in Rawalpindi.
“I am taking responsibility for all this wrongdoing,” he said, claiming the candidates ahead with up to 70,000 votes were declared runner-up amid alleged rigging. “We made independent candidates…lose by putting on fake stamps,” he added. After the press conference, the outgoing commissioner surrendered himself to the police, who arrested him and sealed his office.
Chattha claimed Pakistan’s chief justice and the ECP top official were also involved in manipulating the results of the elections. Both have strongly denied Chattha’s allegations.
There’s mounting pressure on the election commissioner to respond or step down.
These allegations came a week after the February 8 polls when PTI, GDA and other political parties began nationwide anti-rigging campaigns, claiming they were deprived of their mandate through ‘massive rigging’.
Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) demands an investigation
Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has demanded an independent commission to probe the charges. The council said that the legal fraternity was deeply troubled by the ongoing political unrest in the country, particularly concerning allegations of pre- and post-poll rigging, adding that the integrity and transparency of the electoral process, along with its outcomes, have lost credibility.
The PBC called upon all political parties and stakeholders aggrieved by the electoral process and allegations of rigging to work towards appointing an independent commission, acceptable to all political parties saying such a commission, free from bias and influence, was essential to ensuring a fair and transparent electoral process.
HRCP recommends independent audit of Elections 2024
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released its investigative report on the elections, demanding an independent audit into irregularities and rigging allegations.
The HRCP published a report and said that its representatives carried out spot-checks of 51 constituencies across the country and noted that “the countrywide internet and cellular services shutdown on polling day and arbitrary changes in polling information compromised voters’ access to polling stations.”
The HRCP chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt recommended an independent audit of the controversial Feb. 8 national polls in Pakistan, saying that the integrity of the elections was “compromised”. The commission said that “HRCP recommends an independent audit of the 2024 elections under the supervision of a parliamentary body”.
Butt called on political parties to collectively uphold civilian supremacy by indulging in dialogue.
[…] February 17, 2024. This was the time when a video surfaced on social media in which a government official confessed to manipulating votes in the February 8 general election amid rigged elections which the authorities denied. Netblocks, a […]
[…] February 17, 2024. This was the time when a video surfaced on social media in which a government official confessed to manipulating votes in the February 8 general election amid rigged elections which the authorities denied. Netblocks, a […]