MUZAFFARABAD: The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has suspended the operation of an Election Tribunal judgment that had declared the 2021 general election in LA-XVI-Bagh-III void and ordered fresh polls.

The interim order was issued by Acting Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Nasim and Justice Raza Ali Khan, via video link the other day, on a plea for the same filed by Sardar Mir Akbar, the returned candidate from Bagh-III, challenging the tribunal’s July 22 verdict.

The tribunal had ruled in favour of a petition filed by rival candidate Sardar Qamar Zaman, declaring the entire election in the constituency invalid and cancelling the official notifications of the result.

Represented by Advocates Abdul Rashid Abbasi and Raja Gul Majeed Khan, the petitioner argued that the tribunal’s decision was beyond the scope of the pleadings, as the election was only challenged in 17 out of 168 polling stations. He claimed that the tribunal wrongly annulled the results of the entire constituency despite no allegations regarding the remaining 151 stations.

The petitioner also contended that the tribunal had attributed irregularities to polling staff without making them parties to the case and failed to adjudicate on the maintainability of the election petition, as directed in earlier proceedings.

Conversely, Barrister Humayun Nawaz and Raja Sajjad Ahmed Khan, appearing for Mr Zaman, defended the tribunal’s decision. They argued that over 3,200 votes were cast in violation of electoral laws, materially affecting the result. The respondent had lost the election by a margin of 296 votes. After hearing both sides, the apex court ordered suspension of the tribunal’s judgment until the final decision of the appeal.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2025