LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) Chief Siraj Ul Haq reiterating his reservations on the results of the February 08 general elections has demanded the holding of an independent audit of the election process through a judicial commission.

He also demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to ensure an independent and fair investigation of the whole process. He said they were demanding the resignation of the CEC after the passage of two days to the general elections. He said the JI had also demanded that the election process should be conducted through judicial staff instead of bureaucracy.

Addressing a press conference at Mansoora on Thursday, he said the JI’s demand of holding elections under the supervision of the judiciary was not accepted which led to mockery of this process. He said the JI issued tickets to 750 candidates in the national and provincial assemblies and 62 percent of these candidates were young. He claimed that the masses posed their trust in the JI candidates and hundreds of thousands of people voted for JI candidates according to the Form-45.

Siraj-ul-Haq demanded that the results should be revised according to Form-45 of all the constituencies. The JI demands that the mandate of those should be accepted to whom the nation had given its confidence.

Haq while talking about the Qadiani issue asked the Chief Justice to revisit his decision. He said the JI had decided to file a review petition after consultation with lawyers on February 26, 2024. He, however, hoped that the Chief Justice would withdraw his decision before any step of the JI.

The JI chief also said his party would be holding a “save democracy” conference on February 26, 2024, in Islamabad in which representatives of civil society, independent election observers, lawyers, journalists and intellectuals have been invited to announce the next line of action after consultations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024