After he confessed to having rigged the country’s Feb 8 national elections, the top bureaucrat of the garrison city of Rawalpindi resigned from his office on Saturday.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha announced that he had resigned from top administrative posts when he was speaking to reporters at the cricket stadium of the city.
He claimed to have “pressure” on him to the extent that he tried to suicide today but then resolved to present matters before the public.
There were reports that the commissioner had been arrested but the claims were denied by police officers of Rawalpindi.
“I failed to conduct the election fairly. I am resigning from my post and I have committed a big mistake. We managed to declare 13 loser candidates as winners,” Ali Chattha said.
Ali Chattha’s accusations come after a hearing in Pakistan’s Supreme Court where a three-judge bench including the chief justice will decide if the general elections held will be declared null and void due to reports of poll rigging and delay in announcing the results by Pakistan’s election commission.
Notably, the Election Commission of Pakistan rejected Ali Chattha’s allegations. “No official of the Election Commission issued any directions to Commissioner Rawalpindi. The commissioner of any division is neither a DRO [District Returning Officer] nor an RO [Returning Officer] neither are the Presiding Officer and they are not involved in the election process directly either. Despite this, the election commission will conduct an inquiry at the earliest into the matter,” Pakistan’s election commission said in an official statement.
In a statement, Rawalpindi Police denied the reports of the commissioner’s arrest.
“Rawalpindi Police denies the news about the arrest of Commissioner Rawalpindi Liaquat Ali Chattha, Rawalpindi Police has not arrested Commissioner Rawalpindi,” it wrote on X.
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