PESHAWAR, May 28: An election tribunal on Monday unseated the nazim and naib nazim of Union Council Lahori II and declared the runner-up panel elected. Presided over by District and Sessions Judge Ghulam Mohiuddin Khan, the tribunal accepted a petition filed jointly by Haji Mohammad Irshad and Malik Mohammad Jamil, who had contested for the posts of nazim and naib-nazim respectively.

A total of 251 disputed votes, which had earlier been declared invalid by the returning officer, were counted by the tribunal. As a result, the number of votes in favour of the petitioners increased to 2,121, against rival panel’s votes 1956.

The disputed votes had been rejected on the grounds that the ballot papers lacked the signature of the presiding officer and bore only the relevant stamp. However, the petitioners’ advocates Mahmood Alam Khan and Abdul Lateef Afridi contended that ballot papers bearing the stamps could not be declared invalid and cited various judgments of superior courts in support of their point.

Arguing that the returning officer had erred, the lawyers said that the petitioners were initially declared successful.

However, the returning officer deducted 199 of the petitioners’ votes, after which the petitioners got 1870 votes against their rivals’ 1956. Thus Tariq Aziz and Mohammad Idrees, backed by the Pakistan People’s Party were declared elected.

The disputed votes were recounted by the election tribunal and it was discovered that, in fact, 251 votes had been declared invalid. Haji Mohammad Irshad and Malik Mohammad Jamil were, therefore, declared the successful candidates.