IMRAN Khan and his party should feel a little less grumpy now that the National Assembly has reached an accord on probing the purported manipulation of elections in many constituencies. No one has been more annoyed than the PTI chief on this count. Although his party took third position in the May 11 polls, it fell short of triggering the promised tsunami. Since then, among all those complaining of electoral malpractice, Mr Khan has been at the forefront, alleging that his party had been cheated out of a victory. While in Punjab he accused the PML-N of election fraud, in Karachi he expressed serious reservations about the way MQM supporters allegedly interfered with the electoral process in many constituencies. The PTI chief had demanded a probe into the voting only in four constituencies, but Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the party’s deputy chairman, in a letter to Nisar Ali Khan reminded the interior minister of his commitment, voiced during the budget session, to ascertain facts about voting in 40 electoral districts.

On Thursday, the National Assembly agreed to set up a multi-party committee, consisting of members from both sides of the aisle, to examine the allegations of rigging in the 40 constituencies, with Chaudhry Nisar assuring the House that state institutions would offer all help to the committee to investigate the allegations. PPP leaders called the move “positive”, with leader of the opposition Khurshid Ahmad Shah saying even though the move was late it was “better later than never”. Ascertaining the truth about the outcome of results in the 40 constituencies should cast no doubt on the overall acceptability of the May 11 vote. Notwithstanding complaints of electoral malpractice and violence, there was general acceptance of the results. A thorough probe into the allegations should satisfy the PTI, without casting doubt on the credibility of the general election, and all aggrieved parties should collect the evidence they need to back up their complaints. Such an exercise should hopefully take forward the process of electoral reform.