ISLAMABAD: The PML-Q decided on Sunday to become a party to the investigation by a judicial commission into alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.

PML-Q’s senior leaders and legal advisers met at the residence of party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and announced that a report prepared by the party regarding rigging in the polls would be submitted before the commission.

Read: Rigging allegations: President issues ordinance to form judicial commission

The PML-Q formed a legal team, headed by former law minister Khalid Ranjha, to pursue its stance during the proceedings.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), on whose demand the judicial commission has been formed, and the PPP have already announced that they will present their points of view before the commission.

“We have decided to go to the judicial commission and will present solid evidence of how the polls were rigged,” Chaudhry Shujaat told Dawn.

Also read: Rigging probe: Judicial commission to conduct public hearings from April 16

He said his party had put together some facts and evidence in the form of a report which would help the investigation and show that a ‘hidden hand’ was involved in manipulating the elections. “We will not demand that votes are recounted, but will present technical facts and evidence to prove rigging,” he said.

Responding to a question about the possibility of the filing a joint appeal before the commission along with other parties, he said the PML-Q would fight its case alone.

The PTI and PPP have already formed teams to present their reports to the commission. The PTI has appointed senior party leader Ishaq Khan Khakwani as the coordinator of a task force, which consists of five senior leaders and three lawyers.

The three-judge judicial commission headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk held its first meeting on Thursday and decided to ask parties that contested the 2013 polls to present evidence of rigging.

It asked the parties to submit by April 15 brief statements with original supporting material.

The first public hearing of the commission will be held on April 16 at the Supreme Court.

Sources said the PPP was considering to designate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan as the party’s representative before the commission.

PPP spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said his party had also prepared a report that would be presented before the commission to substantiate its claim of rigging. “Some facts collected by the PPP revealed that organised manipulation of the polls took place, which did not allow all political parties a level playing field,” he said.

Senator Babar said that while the PPP did not have details of rigging in all constituencies, it had collected substantial evidence of rigging in some constituencies which proved that a ‘hidden hand’ had manipulated the elections. “It would be difficult to unmask this hidden hand but the evidence we present to the commission will help establish the facts,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2015

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