Pakistan prime minister to address the nation on 2013 general elections

As soon as it was released, a copy of the report should have been provided to the PTI on principle, Khan said adding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was lucky to have read the report before him (Imran Khan). The judicial commission was formed on PTI’s request to probe rigging allegations during the 2013 polls.

The three-judge body, headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, completed the hearing on July 3 after 39 sittings.

A judicial commission on Thursday rejected claims by Imran Khan that the country’s 2013 general election was rigged, saying the poll was largely fair. As per TOR 3(b), the plan or design to manipulate or influence the elections has not been disclosed with any degree of specification by any of the parties to the proceedings nor is it discernible from the material placed before the Commission, said the verdict of the commission.

The Commission, comprised of Justice Hani Muslim and Justice Ejaz Afzal other than CJP, said there were irregularities to the Election Commission extent but they didn’t reflect any deviation from the public mandate.

The report states that in light of evidences, PTI failed to prove rigging allegations. Allegations against those allegedly involved in the plan/design also remained unsubstantiated by the evidence on record.

The text from the conclusion part of the 274-page report has been reproduced below.

A judicial commission tasked to inquire into the allegations of systematic rigging in 2013 general elections leveled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has validated the polls. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, addressing the nation hours after the report was presented to him, said the report of the Judicial Commission is not only an endorsement of the government’s point of view on the issue of electoral rigging but also authentication of the people’s mandate.