HYDERABAD: The Jamshoro Election Tribunal on Thursday ordered verification of thumbprints in 37 polling stations and vote recount in 162 out of 279 polling stations of NA-229 (Tharparkar) which was won by PPP candidate Faqir Sher Mohammad Bilalani.

The tribunal headed by Mohammad Ashfaq Baloch passed the order on an election petition filed by Arbab Fawad Togachi Abdul Razaq who lost the seat to the PPP candidate by a margin of 2,000 votes.

Mr Razaq, a candidate of People’s Muslim League of Arbab Ghulam Rahim was polled 84,000 votes while his rival secured 86,000 votes to win.

Mr Razaq who was represented by Hyder Imam Rizvi advocate challenged the elections results and requested the tribunal to order vote recount, verification of thumbprints and re-election if bogus voting was proved and declare him as winner.

The tribunal had earlier ordered thumbprints verification in 31 polling stations on his application but the order was later questioned by the respondent in the Sindh High Court which subsequently upheld the tribunal’s ruling.

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The tribunal allowed the petitioner’s request for votes recount in 162 out of 279 polling stations and also ordered verification of thumbprints in 37 polling stations on an application filed by his rival Mr Bilalani.

The court directed the administration of Tharparkar district to make arrangements for holding votes recount in 162 polling stations.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the votes count process in 162 polling stations had been completed in flagrant violation of Section 38 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1976.

He said that NA-229 constituency was among the few constituencies of the country where massive rigging took place and four polling stations were burnt down on the election day where re-polling was held on June 6 last year.

To stop bogus voting and ensure transparency in the process, he said, it was necessary that votes recount was ordered.

He mentioned different irregularities in forms 14, 15 and 16 in which figures did not tally with each other or they were incorrect and argued that under Section 38, the tribunal could order a vote recount.

Mr Bilalani who was represented by Yusuf Leghari advocate filed an affidavit along with a list of 300 witnesses but the tribunal declined his request on grounds that it was to be filed within seven days of filing of election petition and serving of notice.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2014