PTI-backed candidates challenge poll results

Plead LHC’s Pindi bench to declare outcomes null & void

RAWALPINDI:

Six national and three provincial assembly candidates from various constituencies in Rawalpindi have challenged election results before the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench, casting a shadow over the outcomes of the February 8 elections in the district.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidates have requested the court to declare the election results null and void. Former Law Minister Basharat Raja has challenged the results of NA-55, Simabia Tahir NA-57, Shahryar Riaz NA-56, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq NA-49, Iman Tahir NA-50, while Journalist Ajmal Sabir has challenged the results of NA-53.

Moreover, three candidates for the provincial assembly have also approached the high court’s Pindi bench. These candidates have filed petitions asking the court to review Form 45 and determine results through a transparent process.

Read: PML-N victories in Punjab challenged in LHC

Copies of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) Form 45 are provided to each polling agent by the presiding officers of each polling station and it is the document in which agents enter original vote counts of each candidate.

Petitioners claimed that they have forms for each station that they have filed complaints against. They said according to the forms, they did not lose from any polling station while those who had been declared victors did not secure enough votes. They added that not only them but other parties’ candidates also have these forms, which also validates their success. The candidates included copies of Form 45 a part of their petitions in which they demanded that the victory notification of successful candidates should be cancelled. They also requested the high court seek completed forms from the successful candidates as well.

A lawyers’ team comprising Sardar Abdul Raziq, Malik Faisal, Shaukat Rauf Siddiqui, and Rizwan Akhtar claimed that they have original copies of each constituency’s Form 45. They were hopeful that all the seats in question would be returned to their clients.

Petitions of all other provincial candidates have also been prepared and will be filed on Monday, February 12. The hearing on these petitions is likely to begin on Monday or Tuesday.

The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench is likely to have a very busy week due to the filed petitions.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th 2024.