Senior Election Official in Pakistan Resigns Over Election Rigging Confession

A top election commissioner admits to altering the 2024 general election results in Pakistan, sparking a political and public outcry

[Islamabad] A senior election official in Pakistan has resigned after accepting responsibility for rigging the 2024 general elections.

I accept responsibility for manipulating the 2024 general election’s results

Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chattha of the Rawalpindi Division told reporters on Saturday, “I accept responsibility for manipulating the 2024 general election’s results. I could not conduct the elections fairly, and I am resigning from my post and service.”

Responsible for elections in over 39 constituencies, Chattha admitted that he “rigged the elections and changed the results” and had “manipulated the results in the Rawalpindi division’s five districts.”

These districts include Rawalpindi, Attock, Murree, Jhelum, and Chakwal.

During the February 8 general elections, 26 provincial assembly seats and 13 national assembly seats were up for grabs.

Chattha confessed that “candidates who were leading by about 70,000 votes lost due to rigging.” He also claimed that the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief election commissioner were involved in the election rigging.

During the press briefing, the former commissioner of the Rawalpindi Division offered a public apology to his subordinates and disclosed that he had “attempted suicide this morning after the morning prayer, but I decided it would be better to tell the countrymen the truth rather than die a forbidden death.”

He also advised his bureaucratic colleagues against conducting any wrongdoings on behalf of “those politicians who are trying to become ministers with fake mandates.”

In response, the Election Commission of Pakistan vehemently denied Chattha’s allegations of receiving any directives from the chief election commissioner related to the election rigging.

The Election Commission stated in its press release “that although the divisional commissioner has no direct influence over election management, the Election Commission has decided to hold an urgent and a high-level inquiry to investigate into the [Rawalpindi] commissioner’s claims.”

Pakistan’s legislative, judicial, and executive branches are resilient and stand ready to deliver impartial justice to all

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, said on Saturday that the “recent national election was a step in the right direction toward advancing democracy.”

According to the state-run national channel Pakistan Television PTV, Kakar urged parties and individuals who harbor any concerns regarding electoral irregularities “to pursue legal recourse through the available channels.”

“Pakistan’s legislative, judicial, and executive branches are resilient and stand ready to deliver impartial justice to all,” Kakar added.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, clarified on Sunday that it was not asking for the general elections to be annulled. Instead, its sole demand is to be given back the mandate that it claimed was “stolen through alleged election tampering.”

During a press conference in Islamabad, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, PTI’s interim chairman, demanded instituting a judicial committee to investigate the claims made by the former commissioner of Rawalpindi.

Khan repeated his party’s claims that “PTI secured 180 seats in the National Assembly, 42 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 115 in Punjab, 16 in Sindh, and four in Balochistan; the party secured 42 seats, but unfortunately, we ended up weak in Balochistan, defeated in Sindh, and only partially successful in Punjab.”

Omar Ayub Khan, PTI’s new nominee for prime minister, called for independent judges to lead a legal investigation into Chattha’s confessions of election manipulation. Calling it the “mother of all rigging,” Ayub Khan vehemently denounced the rigging against his party.

Following Chattha’s declaration of electoral rigging on Saturday and subsequent nationwide protest rallies later that same day, the topics remained the top trend on social media, particularly on X (formerly Twitter), leading to Pakistani authorities completely blocking the social media platform late at night.

NetBlocks, a London-based global internet monitor working at the intersection of digital rights, cybersecurity, and internet governance, also confirmed a country-wide disruption to social media in Pakistan.

According to the company, “Live metrics show a new national-scale disruption to X/Twitter in Pakistan amid escalating unrest and protests over allegations of election fraud, following a high-level resignation and public admission of vote manipulation by a senior official.”

The Pakistan Telecom Authority did not provide any explanation for the online blackout.

On Sunday, PTI and other political parties issued nationwide protest calls in response to the purported rigging of the country’s general elections. Sunday also marked the seventh day of nonstop protests by various political groups in the city of Quetta against election manipulation.

Protest rallies citing irregularities in the vote counting broke out across the country as PTI and many other parties refused to accept the results.

Pakistan’s 2024 elections unfolded with intense anticipation yet were marred by a nationwide suspension of cellular services. The abnormally delayed results sparked allegations of election rigging.

There were contests for 266 National Assembly seats and 571 seats in the four provincial assemblies, governing Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Punjab, and Sindh.

In Pakistan’s latest elections, no political party emerged victorious with a clear majority; nonetheless, independent candidates, backed by imprisoned former Prime Minister Khan, secured the greatest number of parliamentary seats—93 out of 264.

Khan’s PTI party consequently publicly claimed that they “had been duped out of 85 national assembly seats.”

PTI leaders briefed members of international and national media on the purported manipulation of the general elections during a news conference on Friday in Islamabad’s Marriot Hotel.

Raja Javed Ikhlas, a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League-N and a former member of the National Assembly from Rawalpindi, told The Media Line: “To avert potential unrest in the country, it urgently requires a comprehensive probe into election cheating. I was contesting the National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and as per the commissioner’s statement, the result was manipulated to proclaim the speaker’s victory.”

Dr. Javed Hayat Khan, a Calgary, Canada-based political analyst and author, who covers Pakistani and regional politics, explained to The Media Line that “the recent election in Pakistan has indeed been clouded by allegations of organized rigging aimed at hindering the Khan-led PTI’s chances of securing a two-thirds majority. Moreover, concerns have been raised about the compromised nature of the Election Commission and judiciary, allegedly favoring the Nawaz Sharif-led Muslim League-N to form the government.”

Khan further noted that “despite the challenges, the significant voter turnout, and the resulting shift in the political landscape of Pakistan indicate a strong determination among the populace to exercise their democratic rights and influence the country’s future.”

According to Khan, “The political acumen displayed by the people of Pakistan, through their active participation in the electoral process and their determination to defend their legitimate rights, showcases a remarkable maturity and resilience.”

“The country’s power corridor must recognize and accept this reality before it becomes too late. Ignoring or resisting the will of the people could lead to further discontent and instability,” cautioned Khan.

His [Chattha’s] confession was an enormous surprise and a shocking event for many in the government and the country’s powerful establishment

Emphasizing the significance of the confession of election rigging a top bureaucrat, Dr. Yasin Rehman, a London-based political analyst and a Ph.D. scholar from Oxford University, told The Media Line: “His [Chattha’s] confession was an enormous surprise and a shocking event for many in the government and the country’s powerful establishment.”

“The commissioner’s testimonials certified that he was conscious of and felt regret for his role in massive election rigging,” added Rehman, an expert on Pakistan’s strategic importance. “His testimonials brought to light the murky side of Pakistani bureaucracy, which rewards puppet politicians with fictitious mandates.”

Turning his attention to the former prime minister, whose political party’s popularity persists despite his imprisonment, Rehman said that Khan “has done more than enough to give awareness to his nation on sovereignty and self-respect.”

Eijaz Khokhar, a Washington-based expert on Pakistani politics, told The Media Line “The country’s powerful full circles had no idea that despite inhuman crackdowns on Imran Khan’s workers a huge number of people would come out and vote for Khan-backed candidates across the country. However, in contrast to what they had anticipated, totally new faces emerged and ruined their plans,” he added.

Khokhar further argued that “although the post-election circumstances have exposed the country’s system to the entire world, Pakistan’s policymakers are still hesitant to embrace the popular mandate.”

He asserted that “to prevent further harm to the nation’s already fragile international reputation, some unbiased intellectuals and analysts are advising Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir to step in and resolve the issues, suggesting that the successful candidates should be invited to form the government after declaring their victories through the judicial system.”