Khawaja Asif. PHOTO: REUTERS
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Usman Dar's petition for a recount in NA-73 Sialkot after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Khawaja Asif won the seat.
The petition was dismissed after a bench of the high court stayed Asif's victory notification on Tuesday. The PML-N leader will be notified as an MNA from Sialkot if Dar does not approach the apex court.
LHC stays Khawaja Asif, Rana Sanaullah victory notifications
On Monday, LHC ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to withhold Khawaja Asif's and Rana Sanaullah's victory notifications.
Justice Mamoonul Rasheed gave the directives after hearing petitions by Dar and Nisar Ahmed Nisar against the two PML-N heavyweights. Asif emerged victorious in Sialkot NA-73 while Sanaullah won from Faisalabad NA-106.
Dar’s advocates Anees Hashmi and Tajammul Gondal maintained he had secured the second position from NA-73. “I lost to Asif by only 1,406 votes. Over 7,000 votes were rejected and the RO did not provide form 45 to polling agents.”
Notices issued in Saad Rafique’s vote recount petition
The petitioner had said that since the RO had rejected an earlier recount plea, the court should order votes to be recounted. The petitioner also requested the court to stay the notification of Asif’s victory.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ