PESHAWAR: The alleged rigging in the recent NA-18 Haripur by-election has resurfaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as several leaders of the ruling PTI, who lost in the Feb 8, 2024, general elections, have called upon the provincial chief minister to order an inquiry into the “rigging” before, during and after polls in the province.

“The recent shameless forgery of the NA-18 Haripur by-poll results has once again brought the issue of election rigging into the spotlight,” read a joint letter sent by the ruling party’s leaders to the chief minister.

The leaders included former deputy speaker of the provincial assembly Mahmood Jan, former ministers Taimur Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, former MPA Arbab Jehandad and PTI leaders Ali Zaman, Malik Shahab Chamkani, Mohammad Asim Khan, Hameedul Haq and Sajid Nawaz. They all had lost the 2024 general elections in Peshawar.

In the letter, they noted that 672 days had passed after the Feb 8, 2024 elections, but the “resistance of the Election Commission of Pakistan in getting to the bottom of poll rigging despite the availability of incontrovertible proof, including on its website, was astounding.”

The PTI leaders said had the election rigging been properly investigated on time as PTI founder Imran Khan repeatedly requested and officials violating their oaths and terms of service held accountable, no returning officer would have dared to change results in Haripur by-election or other polls.

They alleged that election results were changed in a number of constituencies across the province, including several in Peshawar.

The PTI leaders said the “forgery” of poll results and its available evidence in some constituencies indicated a systematic pattern of rigging.

They said such constituencies included PK-28 Shangla, PK-30 Shangla, PK-40 Mansehra, PK-72 Peshawar, PK-73 Peshawar, PK-74 Peshawar, PK-75 Peshawar, PK-78 Peshawar, PK-79 Peshawar, PK-80 Peshawar, PK-82 Peshawar, PK-95 Kurram, PK-101 Bannu, PK-102 Bannu and NA-28 Peshawar.

The PTI leaders noted that the inquiry could be done by creating a special committee of the provincial assembly using Rule 237 of the Rules of Business of the house, which declared that the Assembly may, by a motion, appoint a Special Committee which shall have such composition and functions as may be specified in the motion.”

“Let the committee be open to all those, from the government, from the opposition, from the media and from the civil society, to submit evidence so that the world can see once and for all, what happened in the elections,” read the letter.

It added that like PTI, all opposition parties in KP had demanded an inquiry into election results in the province, so it was appropriate to order the probe.

The PTI leaders insisted that the exercise was critical as it, if done correctly, could once and for all, stop interference in the electoral process otherwise it would open the door for such electoral forgery to occur again and again, as witnessed in the NA-18 Haripur by-election.

They alleged that the election fraud done in many constituencies, even in KP, had been done in such an amateur manner that it had left a very clear, criminal evidence trail that any impartial inquiry would unearth and expose ruthlessly.

The PTI leaders alleged “institutionalised” poll rigging in Peshawar under the supervision of the local DRO in all nine assembly constituencies where Imran Khan’s party won by huge margins, from a minimum of 50 per cent to almost 400 per cent.

“The rigging evidence available is overwhelming; not only does each actual winner have in possession all Forms 45 with the official polling station results, but on each seat, various candidates from other parties have also corroborated these results,” read the letter.

It added that the federation as well as democracy in the country couldn’t afford officers of the state to shamelessly alter election results and steal a public mandate as various returning officers had done in the Haripur by-election.

The PTI leaders said if ROs were allowed to get away with what had happened, future elections would become meaningless and that it was even more pertinent because of the very loud allegations of large amounts of money having changed hands in the process of alteration of poll results.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2025