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LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday restrained the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from issuing notifications of returned candidates in NA-108 (Faisalabad) and NA-90 (Sargodha) constituencies.
PML-N’s leader Abid Sher Ali had challenged the victory of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Farrukh Habib from NA-108 pleading that the returning officer did not complete the process of recounting.
The petitioner’s counsel asked the court to stay the notification of the returned candidate and order the returning officer to hold recounting of complete ballot papers.
LHC issues order on pleas of PML-N’s Abid Sher Ali and PTI’s Dr Nadia Aziz
Justice Shahid Karim restrained the ECP from issuing the notification and issued notices to all respondents for Aug 7.
Dr Nadia Aziz of the PTI had challenged the victory of PML-N’s Hamid Hameed from NA-90. She pleaded that she lost the election with a margin of 8,000 votes. She said the returning officer had declined her request for recounting.
The judge also stopped the ECP from issuing the notification of the returned candidate and sought a reply by Aug 7.
Justice Karim further ordered the respective returning officers to hold recounting in PP-123 (Pir Mehal) and PP-177 (Kasur).
Syed Qutab Ali Shah and Ahsan Raza of the PML-N had sought recounting in PP-123 and PP-177, respectively. They alleged that the presiding officers of their constituencies had committed grave irregularities during the counting of votes. They said their polling agents were expelled from the polling stations at the time of counting. They said the ROs also rejected their requests for recounting of ballots.
Another court adjourned the hearing of a petition filed by PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique for recounting of votes in NA-131, which he lost to PTI chairman Imran Khan with a narrow margin of 603 votes.
An adjournment request was submitted before the court on behalf of Advocate Babar Awan, the counsel for Mr Khan. The court would resume the hearing on Saturday (today).
Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2018
