PTI decries 'historic' poll rigging, says 85 NA seats 'snatched'

Islamabad, Feb 16 (Express Tribune): PTI claimed on Friday that 85 National Assembly seats that the party won in the February 8 polls were "snatched" and termed the alleged rigging as the "largest assault on democracy" in Pakistan.
The party, addressing the media in Islamabad, claimed that the total number of seats on which PTI-backed independents emerged victorious was 179, and the number of rejected votes cast in favour of the party outnumbered victory votes cast in favour.
PTI's Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, Sher Afzal Marwat, Rehana Dar, and Salman Akram Raja among other leaders, who challenged their election results before various forums, were present at the press conference.
Elaborating on the claims further, Hassan said that the party possesses data for 46 seats, while the data for the remaining seats would be completed within the next 24 hours.
PTI leader Shandana Gulzar said that the party bagged 1.25 million votes from Karachi, and despite contesting from so many constituencies of the port city, the party did not achieve any success. "Till 3 pm, we had 154 NA seats. In K-P, we had 42 seats but the election commission only gave us 32."
She added that PTI's polling agents were expelled from polling stations, and as "night fell, the results were changed".
Seemabia Tahir said that PTI's Dr Yasmin Rashid was winning from NA-130, but on February 9, Nawaz Sharif was declared the winner from the constituency. "The results of NA-47 were also rigged against Shoaib Shaheen. "PTI achieved a significant lead in NA-56 Rawalpindi, but PML-N's Hanif Abbasi stole our mandate as night fell."
"In a similar manner, NA-236 was also targeted for rigging. We won all the seats from Karachi but we were not declared victorious on even one," added Tahir.
Party leader and senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja claimed that rigging took place "from the polling station to the RO's office". "The results which should have been announced based on Form 45 were completely changed. They rigged the elections on the night of Feb 8 as much as was possible."
"Prior to the polls, security forces were used fully and independent candidates were denied the right to campaign for elections, " said Raja.
"These elections are an open attack on democracy," reiterated the senior lawyer.
Earlier, PTI founding chairman and former premier Imran Khan demanded that the US should adopt a tough stance on “rigging” the recent general elections in Pakistan.
After meeting Imran in Adiala Jail, PTI leader Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, accompanied by former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, told the media that the former premier had pushed the US to take a tougher stance on the recent general polls.