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The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that it will hold a public rally against alleged rigging during the general elections on February 8, post poll result manipulations, and "deviation from the Constitution" in Islamabad on March 30, Pakistan-based Geo News reported.
PTI believes that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government stole their electoral mandate in the polls and the results were changed in Form 47s to benefit the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Friday said that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government formed the government after stealing PTI's 180 seats, according to Geo News report. Earlier, the PTI requested the Islamabad Deputy Commissioner's Office to allow their party to hold a peaceful public rally in Pakistan's federal capital. Imran Khan's party has called for a comprehensive investigation into the "worst rigging" in the polls. Pakistan held its 12th national general election on February 8, amid allegations of rigging and the shutdown of cellular and internet services. The PTI dominated the election results, with the highest number of successful candidates in the February 8 general elections. However, the party has alleged rigging in the polls. Ahead of the public rally in Islamabad, PTI will hold a press briefing on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) package and its negative impacts on the people and the economy on March 25. Furthermore, the party founded by Imran Khan will hold a public rally in Karachi on April 21. Notably, cash-strapped Pakistan's standby USD 3 billion arrangement with IMF expires on April 11. Earlier this week, Pakistan and the global lender reached a staff-level agreement regarding the disbursal of the final tranche of USD 1.1 billion. Pakistan will hold discussions on an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the IMF in Washington in April. On March 20, PTI founder Imran Khan moved the Supreme Court, requesting the formation of a judicial commission to "inquire, audit and examine" the manner and process of the February 8 general elections held in the country, Geo News reported. Imran Khan, who remains incarcerated at the Adiala jail following conviction in multiple cases, has filed the petition in light of the rigging allegations levelled by his party and others in the aftermath of "manipulation and fraud in the election results". The petition, filed by senior lawyer Hamid Khan on behalf of the PTI founder, urged the apex court to form a judicial commission, consisting of serving SC judges holding no bias towards anyone, to "inquire, audit and examine the manner and process of general elections of 8 February 2024 and the developments that took place thereafter of compiling false and fraudulent results rendering winners into losers and losers into winners." In his plea, Imran Khan said that "all the consequential acts of forming governments at the federal and Punjab levels be immediately suspended" until the result of the judicial commission's probe is made public. "It is also prayed that all that is required to be done in the best interest of the nation, its electoral mandate and constitutional dispensation may kindly be ordered including requisite orders, directions and reliefs," the plea added, Geo News reported. The government, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (ECP), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have all been named respondents in the plea, Geo News reported. According to the petition, the general elections were "openly rigged" with their results "manipulated". "The people allegedly elected and returned to assemblies are be breaching the public trust by exercising the state authority by way of fraud," it added. (ANI)
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