PML-N MPA’s victory overturned

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday set aside the notification of the election of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Rana Arshad on a Punjab Assembly constituency of PP-133, Nankana Sahib, accepting the petition of the rival independent candidate Muhammad Atif.

LHC Justice Shahid Karim announced the reserved verdict. The petitioner had submitted that he won from PP-133 in February 8 elections by a margin of 3,500 votes, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) illegally ordered a vote recount and declared Arshad as winner by 2,500 votes.

The petitioner argued that the ECP could not order vote recount after the formation of the election tribunal. Earlier on April 16, the court had suspended the victory notification of Rana Arshad, after hearing initial arguments of the petitioner’s counsel.