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

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan tweeted on Wednesday that it is apparent from reports on the latest local government (LG) elections in Sindh that the PPP has no commitment to fair and free elections.

“Instead it uses force, blackmail, police harassment, money to get votes,” he said. He said it has also become clear now that why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), cabal of crooks and their handlers sabotaged the electronic voting machines (EVMs). According to him, EVMs allow transparency and immediate results to prevent rigging and engineering of results.

He said the results of LG elections should have come out within a few hours, but it took days, allowing for massive foul play.

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

It may be noted that the second phase of the local government elections was held in 16 districts of Sindh on Sunday. All the major contesting parties, including the PPP, had expressed concerns over an unusual delay in the results in Karachi and blamed the ECP for mismanagement.

The ECP took more than 36 hours to announce the results of 236 union committees of Karachi as the opposition PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) accused the provincial administration of “rigging and managing things” in its favour.

Meanwhile, in an interview with an international broadcast, Imran Khan denied links with the country’s new military leadership. He said his party has no relationship with the new leadership under the command of new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir.

The PTI chief has also predicted that the general elections will take place in April this year. He continued with his criticism against former army chief Gen (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa for helping the government in ruling the country.

He also lambasted the ruling coalition, saying they have managed their corruption cases worth Rs1100 billion since they have taken power in the centre.

Imran Khan said that Pakistan’s economic conditions were never like this, emphasizing that fair and transparent polls are the only solution to these problems.

“The current government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has come into power through horse trading,” he claimed.

The PTI chief kept holding meetings with party members to discuss in the backdrop of acceptance of another 35 resignations by Speaker National Assembly. Party sources said Imran Khan also held meeting with economic experts of the party, including Shaukat Tarin and Hammad Azhar, on the narrative of brining the country out of economic mess, which he is likely to adopt during his mass contact campaign ahead.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023