ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Tuesday handed over its report on rigging in the 2018 elections to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) asking the electoral body to take stern action against those involved in the process of rigging and theft of the entire election results.
A three-member PPP delegation including Taj Haider, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, and Farhatullah Babar handed over the report to CEC. The report has been prepared by the PPP Central Election Cell.
“Crimes once committed are never time-barred and in the background of the punitive actions that ECP has already taken against violations of Election Act 2017, we look forward to furthering punitive actions on the theft of general election 2018,” the letter accompanying the report stated.
According to the official statement, the report describes in detail the pre-poll, polling day and the post-poll rigging committed by persons belonging to the administration and the security institutions, the letter said.
“Unfortunately the polling staff appointed by the Election Commission miserably failed to stop these crimes. It is also possible that some of the appointed staff became partners in these crimes,” it added.
The report also included relevant extracts from the various reports on the General Elections 2018 prepared and published by various national and international observers who covered those elections.
The letter added that the study brings to light the fact that out of 78,471 Form 45 (Result of Count) only 128 forms had been signed by polling agents who gave the name of the candidates they were representing.
In all, it continued, there were around 5,000 signed Forms 45 on the ECP website; however, none except the above-mentioned 128 forms bore the names of candidates and their political affiliation.
“One cannot say with certainty if these signatures were genuine signatures of the polling agents or not. This alone is enough to put the legality of General Elections 2018 in question,” the report said.
Talking to CEC on the occasion, the PPP delegation expressed the hope that punitive action against those who rigged the 2018 elections is of profound importance for ensuring free and fair elections in the country in the future.
