Nawaz Sharif's Party Demands Judicial Probe Into Alleged Pak Poll-Rigging

Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party has demanded formation of a judicial commission to probe into the allegations of rigging in the just-concluded general elections.

Top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also said the party would publish a white paper containing evidence of polling-day rigging collected from across the country, which would be put before the proposed commission, the Dawn reported.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), led by 65-year-old cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, with 116 seats has emerged as the single largest party after the July 25 elections, but it is still short of numbers to form the government on its own.

The PML-N with 64 seats and former president Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 43 seats are placed at number two and three respectively.

Pakistan's National Assembly (NA) -- the lower house of Parliament - comprises a total of 342 members, of which 272 are directly elected. A party needs 172 seats to form the government.

Terming the polls as the most controversial exercise in the electoral history of Pakistan, PML-N leaders Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal and Senator Mushahidullah Khan told a press conference in Lahore on Sunday that the party rejects its results and demands forming a judicial panel like the one formed by the Sharif government back in 2013-14 to probe the rigging allegations, the report said.

Meanwhile, assuring strict action, Pakistan's Election Commission directed Sindh's election commissioner and polling staff concerned to submit a detailed report on the claims of five empty ballot boxes and over a dozen ballot papers found by the roadside in Karachi and Sialkot.