ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and founder chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking the establishment of a judicial commission to investigate rigging in the February 8 general elections.
Despite his current imprisonment at Adiala jail due to convictions in multiple cases, Khan’s petition, represented by senior lawyer Hamid Khan, addresses the allegations of rigging raised by his party and others following the election results.
The plea urges the Supreme Court to constitute an unbiased judicial commission, comprised of serving SC judges, to scrutinize the election process and subsequent developments that allegedly led to false and fraudulent results, resulting in winners becoming losers and vice versa.
Khan’s petition requests the suspension of all actions related to forming governments at the federal and Punjab levels until the completion of the commission’s investigation and public disclosure of its findings.
Furthermore, the government, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and other major political parties such as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), have been named as respondents in the plea.
The petition alleges that the general elections were marred by blatant rigging and manipulation of results, with elected officials breaching public trust by fraudulently exercising state authority.
It emphasizes the constitutional obligation of the ECP to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections, highlighting the failure to fulfill this duty due to widespread rigging allegedly facilitated by appointed Returning Officers (ROs) and even caretaker administrations.
The petition underscores the concerns raised by various political parties and independent candidates regarding the transparency of the polling process since the conclusion of the general elections in Pakistan last month.
