ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has said that it will file a new petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the election of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the Senate seat.
Talking to the media persons on Tuesday, PTI leader Maleeka Ali Bokhari said that the opposition used all means and money to win a Senate seat from Islamabad.
Speaking on the occasion, PTI leader Farrukh Habib said that Yousuf Raza Gilani is already an ineligible person so he does not have the right to become a member of the Senate.
In her remarks, MNA Kanwal Shauzab said that PTI is striving to bring transparency in the election process.
Earlier during the hearing of the case, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday observed that the video of Ali Haider Gilani, wherein he is seen telling PTI MNAs about the techniques to waste their votes, doesn’t have any mention of money or Senate tickets.
The ECP’s four-member bench led by the authority’s representative from Punjab Altaf Qureshi initiated the hearing.
On the occasion, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) produced the videotape allegedly related to Sindh Minister Nasir Hussain Shah.
PTI’s counsel Ali Zafar was of the stance that PTI and its allies have 180 MNAs in the lower house whereas the opposition has 160 members in the assembly. “Had the polls been transparent, [PTI candidate] Hafeez Sheikh would have won by a wide margin,” he added.
Zafar said that people were offered money and tickets in the next elections [to garner their support]. He alleged that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani bribed PTI MNAs. “The Premier then asked the ECP to intervene in the matter,” he added.
At this, ECP’s member from Sindh Nisar Durrani asked as to when the Premier did that. The counsel responded saying that he did so through the media.
Zafar further said that Ali Haider was seen in the March 2 video telling PTI’s Captain (retd) Jameel and Faheem about the techniques to waste their votes. The fact is, he added, that a sting operation was carried out against Ali Haider. “The commission had taken notice of the leaked footage and issued a press statement in this regard.”
Qureshi said, “We want to advance on this matter with a rationale and not on the basis of emotions. You may provide us names of the 16 persons being accused, along with other material, and make the persons concerned a party in the case.”
The video, he observed, seems to be a matter related to marked ballot papers. “How would someone exercise their right to vote using a marked ballot paper?” he asked.
The ECP member expressed displeasure at the use of the term turncoat, saying those giving or taking bribes are guilty of a crime. “Those offered money should submit a statement on oath; action would have been taken had the PTI members in the video submitted a statement on oath.”
The ECP member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that the commission wants to take action, but it needs tangible evidence to do so. Nisar Durrani asked, “Can the [legitimacy of] the video be accepted without a forensic?”
At this, PTI’s counsel said that Ali Haider hasn’t termed the video fake and he accepted his role in a press conference. – TLTP