Political turmoil deepens as Pindi commissioner admits to rigging

RAWALPINDI: In a dramatic development, Rawalpindi Division Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chattha on Saturday tendered his resignation which, he said, was out of “guilty conscience” for abetting large-scale electoral rigging in the garrison city, further raising the political temperature in the country.

Addressing a press conference at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Chattha announced to step down from his position, admitting he did injustice to the people of his city.

The Rawalpindi Division comprises 13 National Assembly seats, on which 11 Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) candidates were successful, while the rest were secured by an independent candidate and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The division also has 27 provincial seats on which the PMLN was successful on 15 and independents on 11.

Following his startling claims, police first said that he was arrested but later Rawalpindi police spokesperson rejected claims that the top official had been taken into custody.

However, authoritative sources told The News that Chattha was arrested and shifted to an unknown place. Rawalpindi Chief Police Officer (CPO) Khalid Hamdani arrested the commissioner.

The Pindi commissioner, in a rare press conference, took responsibility for the “rigging” that he claimed took place in the Rawalpindi Division. “We converted the losers into winners with 50,000 votes margin,” he stated, surrendering himself before the authorities.

The chief election commissioner and chief justice are involved in poll fraud, he claimed.

“I apologize to the returning officers of my division,” he said, adding that his subordinates were crying on what they were directed to do. Chattha claimed that even today (Saturday), the election staff were affixing fake stamps on the ballot papers. “We wronged the country [...] I should be executed at Rawalpindi’s Kachehri Chowk,” he lamented.

Stressing that he was under pressure from social media and overseas Pakistanis, the official revealed that he even attempted suicide Saturday morning.

The commissioner said he undertook many development projects in the city but regretted tarnishing his legacy by stabbing the country in the back. “This does not allow me to sleep at night. I want to die a peaceful death and I should be punished for what I did. The chief election commissioner and others should be punished along with me,” he said.

He said that there was no need to conduct re-election. Only collect all Form 45 and you will get the results before you, Chatha added.

He requested the entire bureaucracy not to do anything wrong for all these political people.

High ranking police and intelligence agencies have initiated investigation into the startling claims.

Following the bombshell claims, Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi also took strict notice of the matter and ordered an impartial investigation into the allegations.

The CM directed to form a high-level committee to inquire into the allegations. He said an independent inquiry would take place, adding that facts would be brought to light.

In his immediate response to Rawalpindi commissioner’s presser, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that anyone can make allegations, it is their right to do so but it must be supported by evidence as well.

“Tomorrow he may come up with allegations of theft or murder,” the CJP said, adding that if it is his right to accuse someone, he should also provide evidence. Petitions pertaining to alleged irregularities and rigging are being filed and the judiciary would decide them as per law, he said.

Justice Isa said that the apex court did not order the elections; instead, it asked both constitutional authorities — the president and ECP -- to ensure constitutional requirement of holding the elections after arriving at a consensus on the date.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) expressed deep concerns over the commissioner’s statement, saying the CJP has no concern with the election process.

In its separate statements issued here, PCB Vice Chairman Riazat Ali Sahar and Executive Committee Chairman Farooq Hamid Naek said that the Bar cannot afford such baseless criticism over the CJP and sitting judges of the Supreme Court, adding that such a trend would undermine the superior judiciary. They said that the entire electoral process was the ECP’s domain only.

They demanded of relevant authorities to investigate the allegations of the commissioner.

Similarly, SCBA President Shahzad Shaukat and Secretary Syed Ali Imran also expressed deep concern and anguish over the statement.

They said that it is a matter of common knowledge that neither the Supreme Court of Pakistan nor the Chief Justice of Pakistan has any concern with the entire electoral process, which is within the exclusive domain of the ECP.

They further said that in the wake of allegations of serious rigging, matters need to be taken up by the ECP and the same should be fairly looked into and remedial steps must be taken to address the grievances of contesting candidates.

They also condemned the arrest of Salman Akram Raja who was arrested while exercising his democratic right to protest against alleged rigging in election results. “The repeated and unwarranted actions against lawyers undermine the independence of bar and judiciary,” they said.

Meanwhile, the ECP formed a committee to investigation the charges and furnish a report within three days.

A special meeting of the commission was held on the rigging allegations made by the Rawalpindi commissioner. It was attended by the members of the commission, whereas Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and Member Election Commission Punjab Babar Hassan Bharwana attended the meeting online.

According to the ECP spokesman, the meeting deliberated on the allegations made by the commissioner and decided to constitute a high-level committee headed by an ECP senior member to investigate these allegations while the committee includes secretary, special secretary and additional director general law.

The committee would record statements of DROs of Rawalpindi and related ROs in this regard and submit its report to the ECP within three days.

After the report of the committee, a decision would also be taken about contempt of ECP and other legal action against the Rawalpindi commissioner, the spokesman said.

Earlier, the ECP, in a statement, rejected the claims made by the Rawalpindi commissioner, stating that no official of the commission gave any direction to him on manipulation of results.

According to a statement issued by the electoral authority, the commissioner of any division is neither a district returning officer, RO, or presiding officer, nor do they have any direct role in the conduct of an election. “However, the election commission will conduct an inquiry into the matter as soon as possible,” the notification read.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government’s spokesperson also rejected the allegation of rigging by the senior official. Speaking to Geo News, caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir said that this is neither a revelation nor a confession of the crime, this is a claim and an allegation to harm the credibility of elections.

He said that he strongly rejects the allegations made by Chattha.

Mir said that the person who talks about suicide can only be a psychopath, adding that Chattha was heading towards retirement on March 13. “A few weeks before his retirement, he is making a political stunt. I think he wants to pursue a political career,” he added.

When asked about the claims Chattha made about people working under him crying on the day of the elections, Mir said the media did not see anyone crying.

“The things he is saying, can a normal person make these claims? Especially a person who is appointed to a commissioner’s post. Why did he not come out on the day of the election when all of this was happening? Why did he remember this 10 days after the elections?” he questioned.

Mir said that the investigation into the matter will definitely take place. “First of all, the investigation will take place into his mental health. The probe should also take place on how a person like this was appointed to such a key post,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PMLN termed the commissioner’s statement part of a conspiracy to cause unrest in the country.

Addressing an emergency press conference, PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said the market of lies was opened and the Rawalpindi commissioner had become a part of it.

“After eight days of the elections, the conscience of Rawalpindi commissioner woke up and he leveled allegations of rigging,” she said, adding the commissioner also told the media that he had decided to commit suicide and then abandoned it.

Marriyum said the commissioner was not authorised to submit the election result.

She added the commissioner said that where the PTI lost in Pindi Division, people were defeated by a lead of 50,000, but he didn’t provide any proof for these wrong facts.

Sheikh Aftab Ahmed won, his lead was 9,498, Qamar-ul-Islam got a lead of 13,000, Aqeel Malik and Daniyal Chaudhry won by more than a lead of 20,000, Hanif Abbasi got the lead of more than 11,000, she said, adding if there was any evidence of rigging in the election, the commissioner should make it public.

The PMLN leader said Chatha has accused CJP and chief election commission of being involved. She asked the commissioner to reveal from where he was pressurised.

“I demand that there should be a full investigation of Rawalpindi commissioner, who was in contact with whom and with whom he was meeting for the last eight days,” Marriyum said, adding that commissioner’s phone calls, social media accounts, computers, bank accounts and other personal details should also be probed.

She said that if anyone has reservations over the elections, he/she should contact the ECP instead of America. Referring to the PTI, she added they only wanted to create chaos in the country.

“If you are rejecting the election results, then give proof of rigging,” the PMLN spokesperson said, adding evidence should also be shared with the media instead.

Separately, newly-elected Member of the National Assembly from NA-56, Rawalpindi, Hanif Abbasi, categorically rejected the claims of rigging on 13 National Assembly and 26 provincial assembly seats of Rawalpindi.

Addressing a hurriedly-called press conference along with other successful PMLN candidates from Rawalpindi, Abbasi said that fake claims of senior Punjab government official were nothing but an attempt to destabilise the country.

Abbasi alleged that Chattha had links with elements in Balochistan who were destabilising the country.

Meanwhile, PMLN senior leader Rana Sanaullah said that Chattha is one of his close friends and he was being treated for having mental problems. “However, if something like this had happened, he would have told me,” he added.

Sanaullah, however, said that allegations of rigging should be investigated in every case.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), meanwhile, demanded detailed investigations into the commissioner’s revelations and allegation of rigging.

“The country is going through a challenging time when the new parliament is about to come and a new government is to be formed. The PPP demands of the government to probe the allegations levelled by Chattha,” said PPP Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi.

Kundi said the government should investigate the matter and bring forward the whole truth.

The PPP information secretary said the party also had serious reservations over the polls and was compiling facts and figures on its reservations on the results of February 8 elections.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder chairman Imran Khan demanded a transparent investigation and meaningful judicial action against those involved in open robbery on public mandate after the confessional statement of Rawalpindi commissioner.

In a message on his social media account, Imran noted the commissioner had admitted to tampering with the election results for which he announced his resignation.

“Commissioner Rawalpindi’s statement proves that PTI was deprived of at least 13 seats of National Assembly in Rawalpindi Division. It is a shocking example of highly systematic manipulation of the electoral system across the country,” he said.

He contended it was clear that such seats of the provincial assembly, including the National Assembly where PTI candidates had a clear lead, were defeated by forgery and deception.

Imran said people have been deprived of their legitimate mandate by fraud; the time has come to review our conduct for the country’s credibility, its betterment and political and economic stability. “The time has come to correct our direction and respect the will of the people by issuing results in the light of Form 45,” Imran said.

The PTI, he emphasised, also calls for a transparent investigation and effective and meaningful judicial action against those involved in open robbery of the people’s mandate.

Meanwhile, the PTI spokesperson called on the CJP and chief election commissioner to tender their resignations. The spokesperson said the Rawalpindi commissioner had unmasked the real characters involved in the mega polls theft scam converting PTI backed independents’ clear-cut lead into defeat forcibly and fraudulently.

He said that the chief election commissioner had no legal and moral justification to remain in office anymore, therefore, he should quit his office instantly and return the stolen seats to PTI immediately.

He said that Liaqat Chattha’s admission of massive rigging in the elections was an endorsement of PTI’s stance as to how the public mandate was stolen in the darkness of the night, besides exposing the real characters involved in the heinous crime of rigging in the elections.

The commissioner, he noted, confirmed the PTI’s stance of mega polls theft, as people voted to the party’s-affiliated independent candidates in a large number but the overwhelming PTI’s majority was turned into a minority overnight through a poll fraud.

Meanwhile, in a meeting, the PTI’s senior leadership demanded immediate dismissal of the Sindh and Punjab chief secretaries for ‘facilitating rigging and assisting in robbery of people’s mandate’. They said that Punjab IG Police and Sindh IG should also be removed from their posts immediately who, they alleged, have played a criminal role in tarnishing democracy and promoting lawlessness in their provinces.

“These four officers should be sacked immediately and they should be held accountable,” they said.

Meanwhile, the caretaker Punjab government transferred commissioner Chattha and directed him to report to the Services and General Administration Department, Government of the Punjab, for further orders. The provincial government issued a Notification No. SI-2-2/2024 that Liaquat Ali Chattha (PMS (ex-PCS)/BS-20 Commissioner Rawalpindi Division, Rawalpindi, is hereby transferred with immediate effect.

Muhammad Saif Anwar Jappa, Rawalpindi Development Authority Director General, was assigned the additional charge of the post of commissioner.

Meanwhile, Adviser to caretaker Punjab Chief Minister on Law and Parliamentary Affairs and ECP former secretary Kunwar Dilshad said the role of a commissioner in holding election was only to establish public order and provide logistic support.

Talking to The News, he said District Returning Officer (DRO) is in-charge of election affairs and issues Form 48 (final result). “Commissioner Rawalpindi’s recent statement of rigging in elections has no status according to election rules,” he remarked.

Dilshad said since the commissioner has administrative powers, such statements question the transparency of elections and strengthen protest movement in the country.

He said after the elections of March 1977, bureaucrats had resigned, and the country had to face situation like July 5, 1977. The ECP should initiate a summary trial under Section 9 of the Election Act, which has powers under Article 220 of Constitution, he observed.

“If ECP summons District Returning Officers and Returning Officers and take statements on oath, this problem can be solved and doubts removed,” he said.

The ECP former secretary said since the ROs were subordinate to the commissioner and were taken from the administration, they had to keep the commissioner informed about all the situations and events.