‘Turn losers into winners’: Pak poll official admits rigging Rawalpindi election results, resigns

Pakistani poll official Liaquat Ali Chatta in Rawalpindi admitted on Saturday that he had rigged the election results. “We lost the winner to independent candidates [the election] By affixing fake stamps, the lead was 70,000 to 80,000 votes,” Chatta said.

“I take responsibility for all these irregularities and inform you that the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Justice of Pakistan are also fully involved in this incident,” the poll official said, adding that the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Justice of Pakistan were also involved in the incident. incident. Behavior.

“We turned losers into winners by a margin of 50,000 votes. I did injustice to the people of Rawalpindi district,” he further added.

Chatta dismissed the word “irregularities” and said steps had been taken to turn independents who won support from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) into losers. He said he resigned because he did not want to participate in efforts to divide the country.

PTI demands the immediate resignation of Pakistan’s Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. “After this statement by Rawalpindi Commissioner, the Chief Election Commissioner must resign immediately. NA and PP seats have been massively rigged!” PTI posted on social media website X.

Pakistan held elections on February 8 amid a political and economic crisis, while also fighting terrorism in many parts of the country. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif is considered the Pakistan Army’s favorite in the absence of his rival Pakistan Revolutionary Party Chairman Imran Khan, who The election symbols were also banned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s military is known for interfering in the country’s electoral process. PML-N ally Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) also undermined alliance discussions by claiming that PTI’s mandate was stolen on the instructions of the Pakistan Army.

However, after the election results were announced, there was no clear winner, but the PTI candidate, who was forced to contest as an independent due to the lack of an electoral symbol, emerged with the highest vote share, followed by the PML-N. The PML-N claims power but is trying to rally allies to form a government in the centre. Few PTI-backed candidates have joined the PML-N, but despite this, the PML-N has not yet reached the magic number.

Meanwhile, PML-N could win seats amid reports of widespread fraud, with many parties, including PTI, saying there was widespread fraud in many constituencies, with PTI being the clear winner.