Founder of the Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, told the media informally while in Adiala jail that the party would appeal the February 8 election results in the Supreme Court.
The party had called for the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja the day before, claiming he had disregarded the law and the constitution and had assisted in “poll fraud.”
The PTI additionally emphasized that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members have to submit their resignations in addition to CEC Raja resigning.
It said that they conspired to deny the mandate that the electorate had given to PTI-backed candidates in the general elections on February 8, which were clouded by several allegations of vote-rigging.
The leader of the PTI rejected the idea of forming an alliance with the PML-N, PPP, or MQM-P. Instead, he directed Secretary Information Raof Hassan if the PTI to organize all political parties, with the exception of three, to voice their opposition to the purported manipulation.
Imran stated that he will “consider it” when referring to the upcoming prime minister of Pakistan, adding that a decision has not yet been made regarding the nominee. Nonetheless, Ali Amin Gandapur was put forth by the PTI founder for the position of K-P chief minister.
He insisted that free and fair elections are the only way out of the terrible situation the nation finds itself in, and that manipulated elections will have a detrimental impact on the stability and economics of the nation.
Imran refuted any meeting between him and officials on the grounds of Adiala jail when questioned about one with specific high-ranking officials.
“The people’s mandate has been pilfered.”
In a casual conversation, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the vice chairman of the PTI and a former foreign minister, claimed that even the international media is questioning and accusing the recent elections of being rigged.
According to him, the PTI is pleading with the ruling class not to usurp the people’s mandate. Instead, it is not celebrating its victory. “Even those who won are not accepting the election results.”
Qureshi claimed that he and Imran had been detained in solitary confinement following the elections and he pleaded with the chief judge to take notice.
After the contentious elections, he added, political stability is impossible to attain and he urged all the parties whose mandates were stolen to come together.
PTI founder chairman Imran Khan has previously called for Raja’s resignation on multiple occasions due to accusations that he had teamed up with the PML-N. This is not the first time PTI has asked that CEC resign. After his party’s overwhelming victory on 15 seats in the by-elections conducted in 20 Punjabi constituencies in 2022, Imran had even expressed mistrust for the CEC.
The PTI spokesperson on Sunday called for the CEC and election watchdog members, “who worked as main facilitators in the daylight robbery on public mandate,” to resign immediately.
The CEC and ECP members, according to Hasan, “completely failed in performing their constitutional and legal duties,” hence they had no moral or legal right to speak further about their positions.
