Judgment on NA-265 reserved

Raisani urges BHC to order biometric verification of voters

QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court’s election tribunal led by Justice Abdullah Baloch reserved its verdict on a plea filed by Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) central leader Nawabzada Haji Lashkari Raisani against rigging allegations in 2018 general elections.

Raisani, who had filed a petition against National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s election victory urged Balochistan High Court to order biometric verification of voters on NA-265 (Quetta).

During the hearing, Suri accompanied by his counsel Babar Awan appeared before the election tribunal after court expressed displeasure over his continuous absence from the proceedings.

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Raisani’s lawyer Riaz Ahmed told the court that a total of 114,000 votes had been cast during 2018 general elections on NA-265, out of which 65,000 votes were bogus and invalid.

“The election was rigged brazenly and 65,000 votes were not verified. The court has completed arguments from both the sides and reserved the judgment,” Ahmed told media outside the court.

“Documents never lie. Despite pressure on Nadra, they submitted a valid report which would unveil the truth,” he added.

Suri’s counsel Awan did not speak on the merit of court judgment and said that following the verdict of former chief justice Saqib Nisar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the petition should be dismissed.

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“The court asked us regarding full bench judgments as test case but I informed the court that it was responsible for full implementation of law because judges here are sitting for justice rather than a technical job,” Awan said.

Hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Abdullah Baloch reserved the judgment and adjourned the court for an indefinite period.