Election rigging allegations: ECP will make investigation report ‘public’

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) agreed Wednesday to make the probe report into Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha’s rigging allegations public, according to ARY News, citing sources.

According to reports, the report will initially be presented at the next Election Commission meeting.

The commission established a one-member committee to investigate the claims, chaired by Member Sindh Nisar Durrani.

The report contains testimonies from district and returning officers, according to the election commission. Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Chatha had also filed a testimony to the committee.

Previously, the ECP’s high-level committee concluded its investigation on the former Rawalpindi Commissioner’s charges of cheating in the 2024 general elections.

According to sources, the committee report will comprise recorded statements from DROs and ROs of 13 National Assembly constituencies and 26 provincial assembly constituencies in the Rawalpindi division.

The claims made by Commissioner Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha, who resigned, dropped a bombshell on Saturday, admitting to being involved in rigging the Pakistan general elections 2024, adding another layer of scandal to the already contentious polls.

Chatha accepted responsibility for what he described as a “heinous crime,” accusing not only himself but also the Election Commission of Pakistan and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of complicity in the ‘rigging’ – a claim disputed by the ECP and the CJP.

The press conference happened over a week after the February 8 general elections, and the ECP had already been the target of multiple rigging charges amidst national demonstrations by the PTI and other political parties who claimed they had been stripped of their mandate.

The ECP categorically denied Liaquat Ali Chatta’s rigging charges against the Election Commission and the Chief Election Commissioner.

According to the spokesperson, neither the ECP nor any of its officials instructed the Rawalpindi commissioner to revise election results within his jurisdiction.