QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court’s election tribunal headed by Justice Abdullah Baloch has reserved its verdict on a petition filed by Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani against alleged rigging in the 2018 general elections.

Mr Raisani, Mehmood Khan Achakzai of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Hafiz Hamdullah of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, former speaker of the Balochistan Assembly Raheela Durrani and Qasim Khan Suri of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had contested the election from NA-265 (Quetta).

Qasim Khan Suri, who later became deputy speaker of the National Assembly, had emerged as a winner from this constituency.

Advocate Mohammad Riaz represented Mr Raisani before the election tribunal. He pleaded that a total of 114,000 votes were cast during the election in NA-265 constituency out of which 65,000 votes were declared invalid. He argued that the election was rigged as 65,000 fake votes could not be verified.

Qasim Khan Suri, along with senior lawyer Babar Awan, appeared before the tribunal. Mr Awan cited various previous judgements in defence of his client.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the election tribunal judge reserved the judgement.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2019