KARACHI: A sessions court granted permission to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Sheikh on Thursday to withdraw his application seeking directives for the registration of an FIR against the returning officers (ROs) of the National Assembly seat NA-238 for the alleged fraud in the Feb 8 general elections.

The former opposition leader had filed an application before Additional and Sessions Judge (East) Abdul Zahoor Chandio under Section 22-A of the criminal procedure code (CrPC), seeking direction from the court to lodge a complaint against District Returning Officer (DRO) Altaf Ahmed Shaikh and RO Farooq Ahmed Qazi of the NA-238.

During the proceedings, the applicant’s counsel submitted an application requesting to withdraw the submission due to the failure to mention the accused names in the prayer before the court. The court granted their request and remarked that the applicant could file a fresh application before any competent court of law.

A sudden change in the stance from a PTI leader became apparent during a hearing when a judge queried the PTI’s counsel about the direction they sought from the court. The applicant’s counsel responded by requesting the court to direct the registration of an FIR against the RO and DRO.

Court says applicant can file a fresh application

However, the judge pointed out that there was no mention of the RO and DRO in the application, despite mentioning filing an FIR against ‘unknown individuals’. In reply, the PTI’s counsel submitted a new application, requesting to withdraw the previous one due to a technical error, which the court accepted.

Earlier, in the proceedings, defendant counsel Muhammad Daud Narejo contended that under the Representation of the Peoples (Amendment) Act, 2016, their clients are considered ‘statutory authority’ and could not be called or summoned for the registration of an FIR under Section 22-A of the CrPC.

He challenged the jurisdiction of the court, referring to Section 236 of the Election Act 2017 (modified 2023) and stating that no court shall question the legality of any action taken in good faith by or under the authority of the commission or election official or any decision given by any of them.

He argued that the application was moved with ulterior motives because the election petition of the applicant was already sub juice before the election tribunal. He requested dismissal of the application.

In the application, Mr Sheikh had alleged that the polling staff were involved in fraudulent activities related to Form-45 following the elections.

He claimed that according to the Form-45s available with him, bearing signatures of police officers and polling agents, he secured 82,972 votes while Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate Sadiq Iftikhar bagged 10,226 votes.

But according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Mr Sheikh had finished as the runner-up in the elections while the seat was won by the candidate of MQM-P.

Mr Sheikh alleged that after the votes were cast, the RO maliciously closed all doors to his office for political agents to prepare a forged Form-47 to deceive and defraud them.

He also claimed that the From-45s, which were uploaded by the ECP on its website were, tampered with through ‘correction pen and overwriting’.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024