KARACHI: Syed Ghous Ali Shah, a runner-up candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, was on Saturday declared elected to a National Assembly seat by the election tribunal, as the election of Nawab Ali Wassan of the Pakistan Peoples Party was declared void due to rigging.

The tribunal, headed by a former judge of the Sindh High Court Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani, ruled that tangible evidence led to the “irresistible conclusion” that the returned “candidate committed the corrupt practice” under Section 78 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976.

Mr Shah, who had secured 56,960 votes, had moved the tribunal against Mr Wassan through a petition challenging his election to NA-215, a National Assembly seat in Khairpur, the hometown of the two candidates.

Mr Shah, who has lately been criticising the Sharif brothers in press talks and television shows, said that Mr Wassan, who bagged 92,138 votes, had planned rigging to procure his election since the announcement of the general elections. He said the matter was also brought to the notice of the returning officer through a complaint against DSP Muneer Ahmed Phulpoto who came from Karachi where he was posted to the constituency to harass his voters.

He alleged that on election day the respondent PPP candidate along with his armed supporters roamed around different polling stations and fired into the air to prevent voters from exercising their right to franchise.

The PML-N candidate, who was represented by Advocate Mohammad Aslam Bhutta, alleged that Mr Wassan’s supporters killed his supporter, Abdul Wahab Morejo, and wounded others including one Tahir Imtiaz. Mr Shah claimed that an FIR of the incident was lodged at a police station. He said the PPP candidate, however, escaped from an anti-terrorism court after he was denied pre-arrest bail.

Mr Shah further alleged that the returned candidate and his supporters were involved in bogus voting, harassment, wrongful confinement of polling staff and snatching of ballot boxes. He added that the staff of a polling station at Malir Pato also lodged such a complaint. The returned candidate and his uncle, Manzoor Hussain Wassan, made the entire district administration crippled which was working on their instructions and had shut their eyes against the commission of the illegal practices, the PML-N candidate said.

Nawab Ali Wassan

He asked the tribunal that the election of the returned candidate be declared void on account of commission of corrupt and illegal practices by him and his agents and the petitioner, being the runner-up, be declared elected.

Senator Farooq H. Naek filed the returned candidate’s written statement denying all the allegations, pleading non-maintainability of the petition and dismissal of the same on legal and factual grounds.

The tribunal on an application of the PML-N candidate sent counterfoils of the used ballot papers, the used electoral lists and statement of count (form-XIV) of all the polling stations of the constituency to the National Database and Registration Authority for forensic examination of the thumb impressions of the purported voters available on the counterfoils and used electoral lists.

According to a Nadra report, only 47, 291 out of total 174, 645 votes were authenticated. Counterfoils of 27,373 votes did not qualify for fingerprint match, while 99, 752 votes could not be verified due to thumbprints of bad quality affixed on the used counterfoils, it stated.

The tribunal observed that tangible evidence led to irresistible conclusion that the returned candidate “committed the corrupt practice within the contemplations of Section 78 of the Act because he himself was seen firing at the polling station Kot Pull to deter the voters of the petitioner from exercising their right of vote, whereas Mr Munawar Wasan, his close relative, with his unidentified accomplices abducted, maltreated and illegally confined the voters to refrain [them] from voting”.

The tribunal ruled that the corrupt practices were committed by the returned candidate, therefore, his election was “declared void under Section 68(d) of the Act and the petitioner being the runner-up is declared as elected under Section 69 of the Act”.

Published in Dawn December 7th , 2014