LAHORE: Announcing details of a judgment it had reserved earlier, an election tribunal directed the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on Wednesday to verify thumb impressions of voters of two constituencies of Lahore, NA-122 and PP-147.

The tribunal asked Nadra to complete the verification exercise within 30 days and submit a report.

Tribunal member Kazim Ali Malik issued the verdict on applications filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Shoaib Siddiqi of the same party.

Tribunal wants thumb impressions of voters of NA-122 and PP-147 to be completed within a month

They were declared runners-up in the two constituencies in the 2013 elections. National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of the PML-N and his party colleague Mohsin Latif were declared the winners.

Take a look: NA-122 ‘rigging’: Imran files another plea for thumb impressions’ verification

Talking to journalists, Mr Sadiq’s counsel Asjad Saeed claimed the tribunal’s judgment was “beyond the law”.

Answering a question, he said such a verification process had been sought in other cases “before” completion of presentation of evidence. “In this case the process of producing evidence has already been completed and permission cannot be given to any party to produce more evidence,” he remarked.

Mr Saeed said a local commission appointed by the tribunal had already inspected the record and submitted a report. He said Mr Khan’s counsel had also cross-examined the head of the commission, a retired sessions judge.

However, he added that in view of a verdict by the Supreme Court the tribunal’s order could not be challenged before the superior judiciary.

PTI’s counsel Anees Hashmi had argued that verification of voters’ thumb impressions through Nadra was necessary to determine the validity or otherwise of the “unauthorised ballot papers” used during polling.
Perusal of the election record had shown that “rigging had been carried out in a planned manner” and the discrepancies were not just the result of negligence on the part of polling staff, he had said.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play