ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has accused the Punjab government of committing pre-poll rigging in by-election for a provincial assembly seat of Jhang. The by-election will be held on Monday (today).
PTI Secretary General Jehangir Khan Tareen has written letters to the acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and inspector general of Punjab police, seeking appropriate measures to stop what he called blatant moves to rig the by-election for PP-81 (Jhang) constituency.
“I wish to draw your attention to the pre-poll rigging being done by the Punjab government in preparation for rigging in the by-election in PP-81, Jhang, on March 3,” the PTI secretary general’s letter to the acting CEC said.
The letter alleged that Punjab police arrested on Sunday the PTI candidate’s chief polling agent without any valid reason, and said the police were harassing the party’s workers across the constituency in the same manner as they had targeted PTI workers in the earlier by-elections.
“It is totally unacceptable that the Punjab government is using official resources for blatant rigging,” the letter said.
“On behalf of the PTI, I demand the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) to take steps to ensure fair and free by-election in PP-81 by preventing the Punjab government, especially the police, from indulging in pre-poll and polling day rigging – through harassment and arrests of PTI workers and polling agents,” Mr Tareen said in the letter.
He said the ECP must not turn a blind eye to illegal actions of the Punjab government, which were solely designed to rig the election in favour of the PML-N candidate.
In his letter sent to Punjab police chief, Mr Tareen said that police picked up PTI candidate Rai Taimoor Bhatti’s chief polling agent Rai Faisal Mumtaz Bhatti early on Sunday morning.
“It is not the job of the Punjab police to aid and abet the provincial government’s attempt at rigging an election. In fact it is the duty of the police to ensure that peace is kept and no one is able to create law and order situation to undermine the transparency of the electoral process.”
He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had ensured that there was no political interference in the functioning of police force. The inspector general of KP police, Nasir Durrani, had stated this publicly.
This had led to a marked improvement in the performance of police even though the force faced a number of structural and financial constraints, Mr Tareen said.
“It is unfortunate that Punjab police continue to allow themselves to be used for political agendas resulting in harassment of political workers of opposition parties during and just before the election,” his letter said.
“I will request you to ensure that this trend of political victimisation and harassment by the police of our political workers and polling agents is brought to an immediate halt and the arrested workers are released immediately. It is time the Punjab police stopped being complicit in rigging efforts by the Punjab government,” the PTI leader added.