ISLAMABAD: The Ele­c­­tion Commission of Pak­istan (ECP) on Thursday restored victory notification of PTI’s Chaudhry Bilal Ejaz as MNA from NA-81, Gujranwala.

Bilal Ejaz won in the general elections with a clear margin of 8,000 votes, but lost in a controversial recount.

The ECP issued the victory notification pursuant to orders passed by the Lahore High Court.

Last week, the LHC had set aside the victory notification of PML-N leader Azhar Qayyum Nahra from NA-81 and restored the membership of Bilal Ejaz as MNA.

Justice Shahid Karim had passed the orders while allowing a petition filed by Bilal Ejaz challenging the notification for Azhar Qayyum’s victory.

The petitioner had approached the court against the ECP’s decision to declare Azhar Qayyum as the successful candidate from NA-81.

He submitted that he was declared successful from NA-81 by a margin of 8,000 votes, but the ECP illegally declared Azhar Qayyum successful in a vote recount.

He alleged that the returning officer had reduced his 2,500 votes in the recount.

He said the ECP could not order a vote recount after the formation of the election tribunal and requested the court to set aside the victory notification of Azhar Qayyum.

According to original results, Bilal Ejaz was declared winner with 117,717 votes, while the PML-N candidate finished as runner-up, securing 109,926 votes.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024