PTI submits rejoinder in rigging inquiry

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has denied allegations levelled by PPP before the poll inquiry commission that the results of the 2013 general elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also manipulated.

The reply submitted before the commission by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, representing the PTI, said the statement filed by the PPP did not contain any “direct, explicit and specific allegations against the PTI”.

In its application submitted by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on May 29 to the three-judge commission headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk had claimed that the election results in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as Punjab were shocking and the returning and presiding officers had been used to subvert them.

The commission had asked the PTI’s counsel to submit a reply after getting instructions from the party.

The rejoinder said that other than an inchoate, generalised and unsubstantiated insinuation against the PTI in relation to the conduct and organisation of the elections in KP, the PPP application had not mentioned or provided any evidence or material to substantiate the allegation of manipulation of the election results.

More than 20 other political parties which had participated in the elections had also approached the commission since its constitution, it said.

The rejoinder said that if the PPP had any direct, cogent and admissible proof of any direct or indirect role or involvement of the PTI in manipulation or unlawful interference in the conduct or organisation of the elections it should be brought before the commission.

It emphasised that the PTI was not in the government in KP or any other province prior to the elections and nor did it have any direct involvement in the selection and appointment of the caretaker governments. Therefore, it did not have the means or opportunity to unduly influence or manipulate the elections.

Moreover, it said, the number of ballot papers printed in excess of the number of registered voters in National Assembly constituencies of KP from which PTI candidates had won was low when compared with other areas.

However, the PTI concurred with the PPP’s assertion that the commission had to carry the burden of discovering a plan or design and its authors even if no party were to answer the questions raised by it