ISLAMABAD: In order to respond to the allegations levelled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has issued a report which addressed all the questions raised by the PTI chief and also highlighted the reasons for the PTI’s defeat in the general elections 2013.
The report termed PTI intra-party elections, awards of party ticket sans merit, lack of training of polling agents the main reason for the defeat in the general elections as was also highlighted by the party’s own probe committee.
Clarifying the basic statistics of the general elections 2013, the PML-N has reminded the PTI that in 51 National Assembly seats the margin of victory was more than 70,000, in 81 seats the victory margin was more than 50,000 while collectively in 97 National assembly seats the victory margin was 40,000.
Similarly the PTI candidates lost their security deposits in 55 constituencies of Punjab. “On the contrary, in 42 Punjab constituencies the PTI could not even obtain 20 percent of winning votes.
Overall, on 65 seats, representing 44 per cent of the total NA seats in Punjab, the PTI did not have any case to challenge the PML-N victory. This indeed is a very high percentage for any party to justify a rationale for lodging a claim that its election mandate had been stolen,” the report says.
Responding to Imran Khan’s allegation that the PTI mandate was stolen in Punjab because of massive rigging the report clarifies that from a total of 577 directly elected provincial assembly seats in the four provinces, the PTI filed complaint in case of 28 seats only, representing less than five percent of these total PA seats.
“It is strange that the party claiming that there has been mass scale rigging to steal its mandate to rule in a much planned way, it did not file more than 28 and no more than its 5 per cent candidates who lost had formally asserted that there was rigging in their constituencies,” the report clarifies.
Regarding the PTI allegations of rigging in National Assembly seats, the report says that in case of 272 National Assembly of which 262 was contested in the general elections 2013, the PTI had fielded 222 candidates or 84 per cent.
“Out of these, however, only a total of 30 PTI losing candidates filed petitions. Out of those, only 19 pertained to the Punjab, five were from Sindh and six about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The PTI would not have been able to form governments at the national level, or the Punjab, even if all PTI candidates would win their seats where its candidates filed election related petitions and complaints,” the report says.
About 35 punctures, the PML-N responded that of the 35 seats, there are only six seats in which the PTI ended as runner-up. Even if it was conceded that all the rejected votes in these six constituencies could go to the PTI, it would add only six more seats to its tally.
IANS
