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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Wednesday, through senior counsel Hamid Khan, filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of a judicial commission to conduct a thorough audit of the Feb. 8 general elections, as well as the compilation of what he described as “false” and “fraudulent” results.
Jointly filed with the PTI, Khan’s petition calls for the commission to be comprised of serving, unbiased Supreme Court judges. Pending the results of the commission, it calls for orders to suspend the governments in Punjab and the center and any actions taken by them since their formation. It has made the federal government through the law ministry, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the PMLN, PPP, and MQMP as respondents.
Referring to the ECP’s decision to deny the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council a share in reserved seats, the petition argues that under Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution, no political party with elected members in the national and provincial assemblies can be deprived of reserved seats in proportion to its elected members.
Emphasizing that the courts cannot ignore the allegedly obvious and apparent acts of high-handedness, cruelty, oppression, suppression, and violation of fundamental rights on the part of the caretaker government and the “illegitimately” installed governments at the federal and Punjab levels, the petition calls on the Supreme Court to enforce fundamental rights under the Constitution.
Khan’s petition further argues an “abundance” of evidence in the form of video clips, media reports, and press statements by local and international media as sufficient to order a judicial probe into the ECP’s alleged electoral fraud. It claims that the results of hundreds of constituencies were compiled and announced after alleged tampering in collusion with the caretaker governments, police officials, and law enforcement agencies. It alleges further that Form 47s issued by returning officers in various constituencies were not in accordance with Form 45s, which provide the basis for consolidation of results as per law and Constitution.
This isn’t the first time the PTI has sought a judicial commission to probe alleged electoral rigging. In 2015, the government formed a judicial commission to probe PTI’s allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections. The commission concluded that the polls were, in large part, organized and conducted fairly and in accordance with the law.