I was winning by a huge margin before being thrown out of RO office: Salman Akram Raja

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja said “I was winning by a huge margin before being thrown out of the Returning Officer (RO) office, ARY News reported.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad where PTI leaders presented Forms 45 to international media to ‘expose’ the alleged rigging in the general elections, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja termed the alleged rigging in election 2024 as an attack on democracy.

He claimed that rigging was carried out in returning officers’ offices during the February 8 general elections.

Raja maintained that PTI was deprived of its election symbol days before the general elections however people came out in huge numbers to cast their votes for PTI.

The PTI leader claimed that he was winning election from NA-128 with over 1 lakh votes at 10:30 pm on February 8 but at 1 pm on February 9 the results were changed and Aun Chaudhry was declared victorious based on Form 47.

Salman Raja alleged that Form 47 was created which had no connection with the votes cast to candidates on February 8 and Form 47 was also tempered.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) withdrawn the victory notification for the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s candidate Awn Chaudhry following the February 8 general elections.

According to ECP results, Chaudhry secured 172,576 votes while Barrister Raja received 159,024 votes in the constituency, but the victory notification of Awn Chaudhry was challenged by PTI-backed independent candidate Salman Akram Raja.

The Islamabad High Court, in response to a petition filed by PTI-backed independent candidate Barrister Salman Akram Raja, declared Awn Chaudhry’s victory from the National Assembly constituency NA-128, Lahore, null and void.

The directives were issued on a petition filed by Salman Akram Raja, who claimed the returning officer (RO) violated the election act by not releasing the election result.