Sindh

Disputed election results: Results of PS-09 stayed after voters verification

The petitioner, Durrani, claimed that his rival had made the allegations to victimise him.

Our Correspondent September 10, 2013

This file photo shows a woman imprinting her thumb impression on the ballot paper on May 11. The Election Commission of Pakistan had said that the voters’ thumb impressions will be verified if disputes arose over the veracity of the results.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC), on Tuesday, restrained the election authorities from announcing the results of the general elections held on 24 polling stations in the PS-09 Shikarpur constituency, following the thumb impression verification of the votes cast, as ordered by the election tribunal.

Justice Faisal Arab, who headed the bench, also issued notices to the election commission, the election tribunal located at Sukkur, Zulfiqar Kamariyo and the deputy attorney general for September 17.

Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Siraj Durrani had challenged the thumb impression verification from the provincial assembly’s constituency from where he had contested the general elections. Durrani had informed the court that he had contested the May 11 general election on the PS-09 seat, won and was subsequently made the provincial assembly’s speaker.

His rival, Zulfiqar Kamariyo, had later filed an appeal with the election tribunal, alleging that the petitioner had managed his victory through bogus votes and sought thumb impression verification of votes cast on 24 polling stations in the constituency. On September 6, the tribunal had ordered verification of thumb impressions to ascertain whether bogus votes were cast in the constituency.

Rashid A. Razvi, the lawyer representing Agha Siraj Durrani, argued that the election tribunal’s order could not be sustained in light of the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act 1976, as the petitioner’s rival had levelled the allegations to victimise him. He pleaded to the court to set aside the tribunal’s order regarding thumb impression verification.

After the preliminary hearing, the bench issued notice to the election commission, the Sukkur election tribunal, Zulfiqar Kamariyo and the deputy attorney general for September 17. Till then, the judges ordered that the results should not be announced.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2013.