Karachi LG polls: Imran says PPP has no commitment to free and fair elections

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Wednesday that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had “no commitment to fair and free elections” and criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for sabotaging his government’s initiative to introduce Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Pakistan.

In a tweet, he said: “After getting reports on the latest LG elections in Sindh it is apparent that the PPP has no commitment to fair and free elections. Instead, it uses force, blackmail, police harassment, and money to get votes.”

“Now it is also clear why the ECP, cabal of crooks, and their handlers sabotaged EVMs. EVMs allow for transparency and immediate results to prevent rigging - engineering of results.”

He also stated that the delay in the release of election results “allowed massive foul play”.

“If this is the sort of elections ECP, the State and PDM want then the stability that elections are meant to bring will not happen. Instead such manipulated elections will only cause more agitation, polarisation and anarchy.”

On the other hand, the PPP has denied the allegations of rigging.

LG polls in Karachi were held on Sunday, January 15. Late on Monday, the ECP released the final consolidated results of all 235 seats. The PPP emerged as the biggest winner with 93 seats while JI closely followed with 86.

Addressing the criticism over the delay in the results of the second phase of local government elections in Sindh, the ECP on Monday said that it takes time to prepare the results and “the process is complicated”.

In a statement, the ECP said the results were being transferred to the offices of returning officers (ROs) from all polling stations and were being prepared on an Excel sheet on computers.