The order was issued by judge Shahjee Rehman during the hearing of a petition filed by PK-8’s runner-up candidate Asif Iqbal Daudzai of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) against the winning candidate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Arbab Akbar Hayat. Daudzai claimed the polls were rigged. PHOTO: AFP
The order was issued by judge Shahjee Rehman during the hearing of a petition filed by PK-8’s runner-up candidate Asif Iqbal Daudzai of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) against the winning candidate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Arbab Akbar Hayat. Daudzai claimed the polls were rigged.
The election tribunal has ordered the formation of a commission, nominating senior civil judge Aurangzeb Khan as the local commissioner. The tribunal also directed the commission to open ballot bags and recount the ballot papers in the presence of the parties or counsels of both candidates within a week. The commission was further directed to submit its report before April 14, which is the next date of hearing.
The commission will cost Rs60,000 which will be covered by Daudzai.
Last month, NADRA Deputy Director Faheem Ahmad Khan prepared the report which revealed that 5,328 counterfoils had invalid CNIC numbers. This was discovered after a total of 56,750 votes cast in PK-8 were verified.
The report stated 56,750 votes cast in 95 polling stations were verified, of which 50,866 votes were cast with valid CNICs. Of the valid votes, the report said 22,011 votes were authenticated and 28,855 had poor quality fingerprints.
"There were 5,328 counterfoils with invalid CNIC numbers while 187 duplicate votes with used counterfoils. Similarly, 369 voters used counterfoils without fingerprints," adds the report.
As a total of 28,855 votes had poor quality fingerprints, NADRA was unable to decipher them. One of the reasons for this was said to be the non-utilisation of the proposed ink. However, the CNIC numbers on such counterfoils were valid ones.
In its findings, NADRA said a large number of fingerprints on used counterfoils could not be processed through the automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS).
Due to the poor quality of fingerprints, NADRA had suggested to the Election Commission of Pakistan that a certain kind of ink be used. The ink should dry fast and not lose its original form if the paper is folded.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2015.
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