ISLAMABAD: Lambasting the eight-party ruling coalition in the National Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) lawmaker Omar Ayub Khan dubbed newly elected Prime Minis-ter Shehbaz Sharif a “product” of Form 47 — a document which provides insight into unconfirmed re-sults of a constituency, including the number of votes cast and cancelled.
The PTI claimed its mandate was stolen in the February 8 general elections and results were changed in Form 47s. The Imran Khan-founded party also claimed they won 180 NA seats as per the statistics of Form 45s.
It is pertinent to mention here that Form 45, also known as the Presiding Officer’s Results of the Count, is the form that the presiding officer (PO) is required to sign and provide with his thumb im-pression and signature to the polling agents.
This form records the number of votes cast in a polling station. It also separately mentions how many votes a candidate received from that polling station.
While Form 47 is another important form related to polling stations. In this form, the count of votes from all the polling stations of a constituency is recorded by the Returning Officer. This makes a provi-sional consolidated result of the constituency sans postal ballots.
Speaking in the lower house of parliament after losing the election for the slot of PM, Ayub termed the Shehbaz-led government a continuation of the former Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) led regime.
Recalling the “discriminations” with the former ruling party, the SIC leader said that they demanded reserved seats during the elections for speaker and deputy speaker’s slots but then-NA speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf refused to stop the voting.
“Our objection on Shehbaz Sharif’s nomination papers was dismissed,” he added.
The PTI was stripped of its iconic election symbol — the cricket bat — but the party leadership did not bow down, he said, adding that the former ruling party was denied a level playing field and barred from electioneering.
Terming the former PDM-led government “fascist”, Ayub asked who was the murderer of journalist Arshad Sharif and PTI worker Zille Shah.
He accused the ruling alliance of getting their candidates’ nomination papers rejected ahead of the general elections.
The PTI leader demanded an independent inquiry into the May 9 mayhem.
The May 9 riots were triggered almost across the country after the deposed prime minister’s arrest in the £190 million settlement case. Hundreds of PTI workers and senior leaders were put behind bars for their involvement in violence and attacks on military installations.
During the protests, the miscreants targeted the civil and military installations including — Jinnah House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. The military termed May 9 “Black Day” and decided to try the protesters under the Army Act.
Addressing the House, PTI’s Ayub sought the speaker’s ruling for a live telecast of his speech like that of the premier.
Moving on to dual standard, he said: “There are two laws in the country. Nawaz Sharif was provided a biometric facility at the airport [in violation of the laws].”
They knew that their mandate was fake, he said, adding, “You will see fear on their faces.”
He added: “Our number would have been 180 if the MNAs, elected as per Form 45s, had come.”
During his address, lawmakers from the ruling alliance tried to disrupt him and protested multiple times.
Speaking on the floor of the House, the PTI leader demanded an impartial inquiry into the killing of dozens of his party’s supporters on May 9.
More than 10,000 workers and supporters of PTI were currently behind bars, Ayub said and demanded their release. He also demanded to free his party’s leadership, including the former prime minister and his wife Bushra Bibi.
Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Liaquat Baloch said that the “fake mandate” was reflected in Prime Min-ister-elect Shehbaz Sharif’s victory speech.
In a statement, the JI leader said: “There was no confidence in the prime minister’s speech.”
Distancing himself from the 8-party ruling coalition and the Khan-founded party, Baloch held the PML-N, PPP, MQM-P and PTI responsible for all the country’s problems. He said that “these parties did nothing for the masses”.
The governments have been formed at the Centre and provinces, he said, adding that the people wanted solutions to their issues
The rates of electricity, gas and petrol had become unbearable for the people, the JI leader further said. –Agencies
