Founder of the Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, told the media informally in the Adiala jail that the party would file an appeal against the February 8 election results in the Supreme Court.
The party had asked 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 further highlighted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members have to submit their resignations in addition to CEC Raja resigning.
It declared that they plotted to deny the mandate that voters had given to PTI-backed candidates in the general elections on February 8, which were clouded by multiple accusations of vote-rigging.
The leader of the PTI dismissed the idea of allying with the PML-N, PPP, or MQM-P. Instead, he directed Secretary Information Raof Hassan if the PTI to convene all political parties, except three, to voice their disapproval to the alleged manipulations.
Imran stated that he would “consider it” when referring to the upcoming prime minister of Pakistan, adding that a decision has not yet been made regarding his choice.
However, Ali Amin Gandapur was put forth by the PTI founder for the position of K-P chief minister.
He maintained that free and fair elections are the only way out of the dire predicament the nation finds itself in, and that controlled elections will hurt 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 particular meeting with high-ranking officials.
“The people’s mandate has been stolen.”
In an informal discussion, former foreign minister and PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated that even the international media is asking questions and criticizing the recent elections as being rigged.
to him, the PTI is appealing to 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 controversial 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 claims 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 held across 20 Punjabi constituencies in 2022, Imran had even vented 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.
