Pakistan EC delays notifying results for most PTI-backed independents; party seeks judicial probe over rigging claims
National Assembly seats in the general elections has raised concerns among their voters and stakeholders amid political wrangling over a numbers game for the formation of a new government in the Centre, English daily Dawn reported on Sunday. The report said, over 101 independent candidates — most of them backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — have won National Assembly seats, citing unofficial results.
Until Saturday evening, the election panel had notified the result of only eight independents and declared the victory of 33 more through a late-night notification. It is important to note that under the election rules of the country, independent candidates have only three days to join a political party after the official notification of their victory.
The ECP has so far notified results of 154 out of a total of 265 NA constituencies, where elections took place 10 days ago i.e. on February 8.
Rule 92(6) reads "For the purpose of this rule, the expression "total number of general seats won by political party" shall include the independent returned candidate or candidates who may duly join such political party within three days of the publication in the official gazette of the names of the returned candidates". Meanwhile, former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) today demanded a judicial commission to probe a senior bureaucrat's allegation that the election body and the top judiciary were involved in vote rigging, reported news agency PTI.
Senior PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan today said that the party was demanding a judicial commission to investigate the claims of ‘rigged election results’ following the election rigging allegations of the Rawalpindi Commissioner. Earlier on Saturday,
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