Locked : PHC reserves judgment in NA-47 election result

PTI candidate disqualified after ECP said result based on incorrect ballot papers

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment in NA-47 (Tribal Area XII) candidate Qaiser Jamal Afridi’s appeal in which he challenged an election tribunal decision that disqualified him.

The election tribunal disqualified PTI’s Afridi on May 5, 2014 after Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) candidate Kamil Khan Shirani claimed the former clinched the election on erroneous ballot papers.

He said his party symbol was not printed on the ballot papers. The tribunal directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold re-elections for the constituency.

Before a division bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Shirani’s lawyer Aitezaz Ahsan argued his client was nominated by PkMAP as the party candidate from NA-47. “When polling started, the candidate and his voters learnt the election symbol allotted to him (Shirani) was not printed on the ballot papers,” he said.

Ahsan argued the symbol was the most important aspect as literacy was low in tribal areas and would be the main basis on which people cast their ballots.

He informed the bench that voting was stopped at various polling stations by PkMAP voters and Shirani filed three applications informing the returning officer and ECP about the anomaly.

He contended voters were disenfranchised and that was enough to set aside the elections. The bench, after hearing his arguments, reserved judgment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th,  2015.