Imran Khan says all poll rigging would have been solved if Pakistan had EVMs

ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated former premier Imran Khan has said that if there had been electronic voting machines (EVM) in the election, all the rigging issues would have been solved in an hour, Dawn reported. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder made the remarks during a conversation with journalists at the Adiala jail after hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case in which his wife, Bushra Bibi, and aides are implicated.

آج الیکٹرانک ووٹنگ مشین ہوتی تو دھاندلی کا معاملہ ایک گھنٹے میں حل ہو جاتا، عمران خان کی صحافیوں سے گفتگو #قومی_لیڈر_کو_رہا_کرو pic.twitter.com/eAeV9dfjFj

— PTI (@PTIofficial) March 16, 2024

According to Imran Khan, the Election Commission of Pakistan, a few political parties and the 'establishment' "sabotaged the plan to bring in electronic voting." Speaking to the reporters, Khan sought "high treason proceedings" against the officials who purportedly stole the people's mandate in the general elections.

Although he endorsed the demonstration outside the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office in the US, he distanced himself from the 'anti-army' slogans raised by the protesters. Imran Khan claimed that his party bagged over 30 million votes, whereas the rest of the 17 political parties jointly secured the same number of votes. He added that the PTI took up the irregularities in polls with the IMF and that non-government organisations also pointed out flaws in the electoral process.

First, the PTI was denied its electoral symbol of bat under a conspiracy, and then the former ruling party was deprived of its share of reserved seats, the ex-PM said, adding that the theft of the mandate was akin to treason, which attracted Article 6 of the Constitution, as reported by Dawn. He said the Peshawar High Court's order denying reserved seats to PTI would be challenged in the Supreme Court, adding that the Election Commission of Pakistan could not allocate PTI's seats to other political parties.

The former PM also expressed apprehensions that he may be convicted in the Al-Qadir Trust case if the Islamabad High Court grants him bail in the cipher and Toshakhana cases. Commenting on Pakistan's economy, Imran Khan said that the incumbent government was not sustainable because of the 'fragile economy'.

He also rejected the criticism that the PTI had left the country on the verge of default. According to Khan, the PML-N left a USD 20 billion deficit in 2018, and there was no other option available but to approach the IMF. Khan said the incumbent government had no mandate to carry out structural reforms.

He advised the government to seek loans if it could repay the debt, Dawn reported. Speaking about the meeting between his party's Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and PM Shehbaz Sharif, he said that Gandapur should not have had a photo session with the PM.