ISLAMABAD: First, it was inflated electricity bills that embarrassed the government in the face of the protesting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) which is camped outside parliament. Now, the post-election review report, released recently by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on its website, has given the PTI more ammunition against the government.

In both cases, the ruling PML-N has been pushed onto the back foot. But the PTI leadership, grabbing the opportunity with both hands, is looking to use it to re-energise party morale as the nerve-wracking political standoff continues.

At a press conference on Tuesday, a beaming PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi brandished the post-election report, which confirms that multiple irregularities were committed on the eve of the 2013 general elections, and railed the government.

Maintaining that the report vindicated his party’s stance, he said “the ball is now in the government’s court”.

Qureshi asks why report completed in December was kept under wraps

Quoting from the report, Mr Qureshi said, “This is what the PTI has been highlighting throughout, but our detractors were unwilling to report it. Now, the ECP has unequivocally accepted its failure on many fronts, which endorses the PTI’s stand.”

The report confirms that returning officers had misused their powers, the printing of ballot papers was mismanaged, there were unauthorised changes in the polling schemes, untrained staff were posted at polling booths, common ink was used for thumb impressions instead of the prescribed magnetic ink, and election results were complied manually, despite the presence of UNDP-trained staff and equipment that was designed specifically for that purpose.

Mr Qureshi also asked why this report, which had been ready since December last year, was not made public earlier. He also challenged the government side, including the prime minister, to respond to the findings, recalling that in the joint sitting of parliament last week, the treasury benches had flaunted reports from international observers which extolled the previous general elections for being “free and fair”.

The PTI leader asked, “Where is the accountability? Was somebody held responsible for committing these mistakes, taken to task or put behind bars?”

Mr Qureshi also assailed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also the lead negotiator for the government, over his refusal to open constituencies for probing by the proposed judicial commission. “After the revelations contained in the post-election report, I can understand why Senator Dar spoke so passionately against a thorough investigation, because he knew any probe would go against the government,” he said

Asked if the PTI was still open to talks with the government, Mr Qureshi maintained that the government should be responding to PTI’s proposals. The PTI had called off talks in response to what they called the government’s high-handedness, when it began arresting party activists and participants of the Azadi March.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014