Islamabad:
A senior Pakistani bureaucrat alleged on Saturday that the Chief Election Commissioner and Chief Justice were involved in poll rigging during the recent elections as he resigned from his post and took “responsibility for all these misconducts”.
Former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha's comments came amid jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party launching nationwide protests against alleged rigging and theft of its mandate during the February 8 elections .
Liaquat Ali Chattha told reporters at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium that the candidates who 'lose' the elections are 'made to win'.
“I take responsibility for all this misconduct and tell you that the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Justice are also fully involved in this,” he told Dawn newspaper.
Liaquat Ali Chattha has resigned after “accepting responsibility” for the manipulation of the election results.
Liaquat Ali Chattha said that “stabbing the country in the back will not let him sleep.”
“I must be punished for the injustice I have done and others involved in this injustice must also be punished,” he said.
The former bureaucrat said “pressure” was put on him to the extent that he contemplated suicide but then decided to take the cases to the public.
“It is my request to the entire bureaucracy not to do anything wrong for all these politicians,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has strongly rejected Chattha's allegations against the Chief Election Commissioner.
A press statement said: “The Election Commission of Pakistan strongly rejects the allegations made by Commissioner Rawalpindi against the Chief Election Commissioner or the Election Commission, and no official of the Election Commission has ever given any instructions on changing the election results in the Election Commission. Commissioner Rawalpindi.
“Neither is the commissioner of any division ever appointed as DRO, RO or presiding officer, nor do they ever play any direct role in the conduct of elections.” However, it was said that the matter would be investigated.
Earlier, Punjab Information Minister Amir Mir also 'rejected' Liaquat Ali Chattha's claims of rigging the election results.
Speaking to Geo News, he said Liaquat Ali Chattha had “not shown any evidence” of the alleged tampering with the poll results.
Noting that the commissioner retired on March 13, Mir said, “I imagine he is trying to boost his political career after he retires.” Besides Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and others have also complained of rigging during the elections.
Independent candidates – a majority backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats contested in the February 8 election.
However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's two main rivals appear to be on course to form a coalition government after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Zardari a post-poll Tuesday.
The PML-N won 75 seats, while the PPP came third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has also agreed to support them with their 17 seats.
To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)