Imran to meet election commissioner today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will be meeting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan on Monday to apprise him about his party,s concerns about alleged manipulation in the 2013 general elections. According to an official announcement by the PTI here on Sunday, Imran Khan is expected to talk to journalists after his meeting with the CEC in the morning. This will be the first meeting between the PTI leader and Justice Raza Khan after the latter,s appointment as CEC in December last year. A source in the party told Dawn that the PTI chief would raise the issue of alleged rigging in the general elections, with particular reference to four constituencies of the National Assembly results of which were not accepted by the PTI after the elections. One of these constituencies is NA-122 from where Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had defeated Imran Khan. The meeting is taking place two days after an election tribunal in Lahore turned down Imran Khan,s plea for action against an inquiry commission that inspected the record of election in NA-122. The PTI chief had sought re-inspection of record of certain polling stations in the constituency. Disposing of the application, tribunal,s member Kazim Ali Malik had said that at this stage it was premature for the PTI leader to seek re-inspection. The tribunal has set Feb 7 as the next date for hearing. Imran Khan had alleged that the commission had not followed its terms of reference and that it had committed breach of trust by giving statements to media. Retired sessions judge Ghulam Hussain Awan was appointed by the tribunal to inspect the record. The result of the election remained unchanged after the process. After an audit of a number of polling stations in NA-122 constituency, both the ruling PML-N and the PTI have been making contradictory claims. Published in Dawn February 2nd , 2015