PTI was not mobilised at grassroots level: Imran

Imran Khan.

Admitting that organisational weaknesses of the party was one of the main reasons for its dismal performance in recent local government elections, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said. He also blamed pre poll manipulation as another major factor.
Talking to media after a lengthy session of senior party leaders from across the country, Imran said the meeting reviewed the causes of crushing defeat in Karachi and poor score in Punjab.
He announced that intra-party election of the PTI will be held within next two to three months.
A five member committee led by Tasneem Qureshi will supervise these polls. Earlier elections held in 2012-13 were scrapped by Justice Wajihuddin's commission famed allegations of gross irregularities and rigging.
He acknowledged that those elections also hurt the party as these were dragged for too long and culminated just when the general elections in the country were announced.
Imran said the party has learned lessons from past mistakes and hoped that these would not be repeated. He wants to institutionalise the PTI so that it remains and strong even if he is no more on the scene.
Analysing the causes of dismal performance in local government elections, Imran admitted that the PTI had not been mobilised at the grassroots level. At the same time, he alleged that the polls had been rigged much more than in the 2013 general elections.
"Since no action was taken against those involved in rigging the 2013 elections, the LB polls were massively rigged in Punjab and Sindh," he said. During the meeting, party insiders said, he expressed displeasure over the poor performance of the PTI in the polls, particularly in Rawalpindi which had become a stronghold of the party in 2013. But in Saturday's elections, the party faced an embarrassing defeat.
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- and in other parts of Punjab and Karachi.
In Karachi also it was virtually crushed by the Muthidda Qaumi Movement. Ali Zaidi and Arif Alvi accepted responsibility for the defeat and submitted their resignations, but true meeting asked them to continue
Irman accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of having failed to hold free, fair and transparent elections. All opposition parties agreed, he said, that the LB elections in Punjab and Sindh were rigged.
"Had action been taken against those involved in rigging the general elections, the situation could have been different this time," he said.
He alleged that the governments of two provinces used the state machinery for pre-poll rigging and claimed that "11 workers" of the PTI had been killed before and during the polls. He said that the PTI had decided to contact parties which fought against the status quo, to work out a plan to counter rigging.
He also accused the ECP of having played an important role in pre-poll rigging. "The ECP announced the schedule for the LB polls in Punjab and Sindh when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a package for farmers in Lodhran.
On the other hand, he said, the ECP had barred him from taking part in the election campaign and FIRs were registered against him. "What I had to give voters except sharing the manifesto of the PTI?"
Talking about the NA-122 elections, he said that PTI candidate Aleem Khan had requested the ECP to investigate how 21,000 votes had been excluded from the electoral lists for the 2013 elections. "The ECP is bound to respond to Aleem Khan's application in two months (till December 14). So far, the commission has not take up this matter," he said.
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