Top Pakistani poll official resigns over 'wrongdoing' in elections

Liaquat Ali Chattha, the former Rawalpindi Commissioner, made these statements as Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, with Khan currently imprisoned, launched nationwide protests alleging poll rigging and the misappropriation of its electoral mandate in the February 8 elections.

Addressing reporters at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Chattha alleged that candidates who were initially "losing" the elections were unjustly declared as winners.

"I am taking the responsibility for all this wrongdoing and telling you that the chief election commissioner and the chief justice are also completely involved in this," he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

Liaquat Ali Chattha stepped down from his office after "accepting responsibility" for doctoring election results, it said.

Liaquat Ali Chattha said, "Stabbing the country in its back does not let" him sleep.

"I should be punished for the injustice I have done and others who were involved in this injustice should also be punished," he said.

The former civil servant revealed there was "pressure" on him to the level that he even thought of killing himself but then decided to present matters before the public.

"It is my request to the entire bureaucracy to not do anything wrong for all these politicians," he said.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completely rejected the accusations Chattha has made against the chief election commissioner.

In a press statement, it said, "The Election Commission of Pakistan strongly rejects the allegations levelled by the Commissioner Rawalpindi on the chief election commissioner or the election commission and no official of the election commission never issued any instructions regarding changing the election results to the Commissioner Rawalpindi.

"Neither is the commissioner of any division ever appointed as a DRO, RO or presiding officer, nor do they ever play a direct role in the conduct of elections." However, it said that the matter would be investigated.

Previously, Punjab caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir also "rejected" the allegations of election result manipulation made by Liaquat Ali Chattha. In an interview with Geo News, Mir stated that Chattha had failed to provide any evidence to support the purported tampering of election results.

Noting that the commissioner was retiring on March 13, Mir said, "I imagine he's trying to kick start his political career after he retires." Besides Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), and others have also complained of rigging during the elections.

Independent candidates, a majority of whom were supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, secured 93 out of the 265 contested seats in the National Assembly during the February 8 election.

Despite this, PTI's two primary competitors seem poised to form a coalition government, following the formation of a post-election alliance between former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) on Tuesday.

PML-N secured 75 seats, while PPP came in third with 54 seats.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has also pledged its support with its 17 seats.

To form a government, a party must secure 133 seats out of the 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.