ISLAMABAD: Visibly perturbed by the verdict of an election tribunal which de-seated Railways Mini­ster Khawaja Saad Rafique, the ruling PML-N decided on Wednesday to approach the Supreme Court for reversal of the order.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, according to six PML-N ministers and leaders who addressed a crowded press conference at the PID, gave the go-ahead to adopt legal course, instead of fighting it out on electoral ground with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

The election tribunal has ordered a re-election in the NA-125 constituency after de-seating Saad Rafique.

“It’s a unanimous decision of the party’s legal and political advisers that the tribunal’s ruling carried enough loopholes which need to be challenged in the apex court,” the PML-N leaders said.

Mr Rafique insisted on going for election instead of moving the apex court.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said: “By accepting the tribunal’s decision, the government cannot set a dangerous precedent that just on the basis of weak evidence a lawmaker can be sent home.”

He said the decision to challenge the ruling had been taken at a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office earlier in the day in which all options were discussed by the party’s constitutional experts.

Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal said voting trends in the recent local bodies polls in cantonment boards and by-elections elsewhere proved that the 2013 general elections had been conducted in the best possible manner.

“As far as irregularities are concerned on the basis of which the tribunal has given its judgment, they happened in all democracies,” he said, particularly referring to the elections in India.

Mr Iqbal used a well-attended press conference to highlight the economic recovery made by the PML-N government and his favourite economic corridor based on Chinese investment of $45 billion. But regular interruption of electricity took the sheen off from the minister’s claims of economic stability, which he said had been accepted all over the world.

According to a PID official, the tripping was caused by a faulty generator.

Ashtar Ausaf Ali, a lawyer and special assistant to the prime minister, said that nowhere in the detailed judgment the tribunal had pointed fingers at the contesting candidates. It only highlighted capacity issues of the election commission’s staff.

“Our only contention in taking the case to the Supreme Court is that if Mr Rafique or other candidates weren’t involved in whatsoever manner to rig or influence the outcome of the election, the winning candidate cannot be penalised for other’s mistakes, if the tribunal has found any,” he said.

Later talking to Dawn, Mr Ali said Supreme Court lawyer Khawaja Haris would represent the railways minister in the apex court and the appeal would be filed in a day or two. “We are going to ask for reversal of the tribunal’s judgment for which we have to seek the apex court’s intervention for immediate suspension of its [tribunal] verdict,” he added.

In reply to a question, the information minister said Mr Rafique would continue his assignment as minister till his formal de-notification by the election commission.

PML-N MNA Daniyal Aziz criticised the PTI for what he called misleading people about facts which it had presented before the Judicial Commission investigating allegations of malpractices in the last general elections.

“Where are the recorded tapes and other evidence which PTI Chairman Imran Khan day in and day out talked about from his container during his party’s sit-in, about the planned rigging in which he accused members of the judiciary and the caretaker set-up,” he asked.

He said that even findings of the tribunal in NA-125 proved PTI’s claim of pre-planned rigging as wrong, and only pointed out irregularities.

MNAs Talal Chaudhry and Ms Zeb Jaffar also attended the press conference.

IMRAN KHAN: The PTI chief had a busy day on Wednesday. He first went to the Judicial Commission to witness its proceedings and then met Nadra Chairman Usman Mobeen to get an update regarding the ongoing thumb impressions-based verification of votes in the NA-122 case.

Talking to journalists at the Constitution Avenue in front of the Supreme Court, Mr Khan sought registration of criminal cases against the returning and presiding officers concerned who were found guilty of mismanaging elections in NA-125.

However, his remarks after a meeting with the Nadra chairman ruffled a few feathers in the government side. Flaunting a report that was, according to Imran Khan, handed over to him by the Nadra chairman, the PTI chief said a number of serious irregularities, such as change of electoral rolls in 24 polling booths and mismatching of serial numbers of a large number of ballot papers, had been found in his NA-122 constituency.

At the press conference, Information Minister Rashid accused the PTI chief of interfering in the affairs of government agencies. “Questions must be asked as to why Mr Khan met the Nadra chairman. Doesn’t it amount to influencing the Nadra report on NA-122,” he wondered.

In a late-evening press conference, Nadra Chairman Mobeen clarified that the PTI leader visited him uninvited to check an update on the report on the NA-122 constituency, which the election tribunal had asked the authority to prepare.

“Nadra report will be shared only with the tribunal; it cannot be provided to the petitioner or the respondent – Imran Khan and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq – in totality or in parts. Once the report is submitted, it’s the tribunal’s prerogative to make it public and share its copies with stakeholders or otherwise,” he said.

A Nadra official said the facts presented by the PTI chairman before the media were probably initial findings of the tribunal and had nothing to do with the authority. He said Nadra’s report on NA-122 was ready and sealed and would be provided to the tribunal at its next hearing.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2015

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