For fair elections: SHC appoints official to count ballots for Arts Council election

A contesting panel had taken the issue to court on allegations of rigging

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered a court official on Monday to supervise the counting of ballots, which were recently cast to elect the new governing body of the Pakistan Arts Council, Karachi, for the year 2016.

Headed by Justice Muhammad Faisal Kamal Alam, a single bench also directed its official to submit a report on December 31.

On the next date of hearing, the court will announce the results of the polls, which were dragged into litigation following allegations of rigging by one contesting group.



The Shehr-e-Quaid Panel had approached the court against their rival, the Ahmed Shah Panel, for allegedly committing irregularities in the annual elections held in Karachi on December 20.

The plaintiff panel alleged that the Ahmed Shah group had announced its victory while voting was still in process on the day of polling. Secondly, they claimed that a total 2,700 votes were polled. However, there are around 1,500 un-polled votes in the possession of the Shah group.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Saalim Salam Ansari, expressed the apprehension that the defendant group might add these un-polled votes at the stage of counting in order to secure a victory. He had, therefore, pleaded the court to stay the vote counting. The court was also requested to order its Nazir to seize the ballot papers in order to ensure that the results are not changed in favour of the Ahmed Shah panel.



Taking up the controversy, the SHC bench had last week granted a stay order against counting of the votes and appointed its official, Anwar Hadi, to take the election-related material into custody and seal it till further orders were issued.

Notices were meanwhile also issued to the defendant, the Ahmed Shah Panel, to file replies to the allegations contained in the lawsuit instituted by the plaintiff.

During Monday's proceedings, Advocate Abrar Hasan appeared on behalf of the defendant and pleaded the court to order counting of the votes, as the term of the outgoing governing body was expiring on December 31.



Meanwhile, the court official, Anwar Hadi, also filed his report with regard to the votes and other election-related material.

Allowing the request, the bench directed him to supervise the counting of the votes and complete the process within two days. The judge fixed the hearing on December 31 when Hadi will submit a report of the vote count by the next date of hearing when the court will announce the results.

Till then, the defendant is directed to submit all the un-polled ballot papers with the SHC's Nazir.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2015.