ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: The ARD component parties vowed on Thursday to stay united beyond the elections with a view to getting the original Constitution restored. The alliance decided to launch the election campaign from one platform.

The joint election campaign will be launched with a public meeting to be held at the Minar-i-Pakistan on Sept 15, ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan told a press conference held here at the PML(N) camp office after a meeting of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.

He said that ARD’s component parties, particularly the PPP and the PML-N, had further cemented their understanding to make the election adjustments in as many constituencies as possible.

Commenting on reports that the ARD was considering boycotting the elections, the veteran politician said: “All options are open”.

The component parties agreed to refrain from maligning each other in the election campaign and focus on the issues like the restoration of the Constitution, price-hike, unemployment, etc.

Nawabzada Nasrullah said that the Sept 15 public meeting would send a message loud and clear not only to the nation but the international community as well that people of Pakistan were against the military regime and its policies.

Flanked by some PML-N leaders, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy chief alleged that pre-poll rigging was being carried out by the government functionaries on a massive scale and in a blatant manner.

“We have authentic reports that election cells have been constituted at the federal level and in governors’ houses in all the provinces,” the nawabzada said.

Chief secretaries, home secretaries, inspectors-general of police in the four provinces and even governors were exerting pressure on the candidates of opposition political parties to change their loyalties, he claimed.

He said that those refusing to switch over to the King’s party were being threatened with investigations under the accountability laws.

The ARD chief said that at some places where the candidates of King’s party lacked educational qualification the government officials had arranged for fake degrees from religious institutions to make them eligible for contesting the elections.

He appreciated the decision of Nawaz Sharif to withdraw his candidature in protest against the rejection of Benazir Bhutto’s nomination papers. “The solidarity Nawaz Sharif has shown is unparalleled in the history of Pakistan,” he remarked.

In reply to a question, the ARD leader said the government had made a deliberate effort to keep the two major political parties out of the election arena by disqualifying their heads. “Benazir and Nawaz-specific laws were passed one after another,” he said.

However, he claimed, these two parties would rout the candidates of King’s party.

Earlier, a delegation of the ARD headed by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan met the representatives of the European Union and apprised them of the pre-poll rigging being carried out by the government.

APP ADDS: ARD secretary-general-Zafar Iqbal Jhaghra, Raja Zafrul Haq of the PML-N, PPP chief Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Sir Anjam Khan, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Akram Zaki, Raza Rabbani, Qasim Zia and Khudai Noor attended the meeting.