PTI’s long wait ends: PML-N loses big wicket

Tribunal unseats Ayaz Sadiq; ruling party to move SC

LAHORE:

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was unseated by an election tribunal of Punjab on Saturday after it invalidated his election to National Assembly constituency of NA-122 (Lahore-V) and ordered re-polling in the constituency.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) representative Sadiq had defeated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the May 2013 general elections to clinch the seat. Imran, however, challenged Sadiq’s victory.

The tribunal’s judge, Kazim Malik, also ordered re-election in PP-147, where PML-N’s Mohsin Latif had defeated PTI’s Shoaib Siddiqui.

NA-122 is among the four constituencies – NA-125 (Lahore-VIII), NA-110 (Sialkot-I) and NA-154 (Lodhran-I) – where the PTI, through election petitions, demanded vote audit and re-polling. Previously, an election tribunal had also declared the NA-125 polls null and void.

The NA-122 verdict was not announced at its scheduled time, which gave the agitated supporters of the PML-N and the PTI enough time and fuel to clash with each other. Meanwhile, the ruling party seeks to challenge the tribunal’s decision in the Supreme Court.

The tribunal announced the judgment two years after Imran had filed a petition challenging Sadiq’s win. The petition remained in limbo for more than a year after, on November 4, 2013, the Lahore High Court granted a stay to the NA speaker against the tribunal’s proceedings. On November 20 last year, the court vacated the stay order and allowed the tribunal to resume proceedings.

In his final arguments, PTI’s counsel Anees Ali Hashmi had argued that around 45,000 votes were invalid. He argued that differences had emerged during verification of counterfoils. He said the process of counting was incorrect, adding that votes that carried incorrect CNIC numbers on counterfoils were invalid.

On the other hand, PML-N’s counsel Barrister Asjad Saeed concluded his arguments saying that two independent institutions – NADRA and the inquiry commission – had examined the polling records and decided that there was no rigging in NA-122.

PML-N has reservations

“We respect and accept the tribunal’s decision,” Sadiq told the media outside his house after being unseated, “but we have some reservations for which we shall approach the Supreme Court.”

He wondered why the inquiry commission’s verdicts on NA-122 and NA-125 were in the PML-N’s favour but the tribunal’s were not. “The election machinery’s fault shall not affect the election results, so we are going to approach the apex court to challenge the decision.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the tribunal’s decision on NA-122 was part of a legal process and all the political parties should honour it.

Tense air, tight security

The Lahore police had deployed 340 policemen and seven police reserves at the office of the election tribunal. They had also made arrangements for water cannon and tear-gas shells to avoid any untoward incident.

Tension permeated the air for hours as PML-N and PTI supporters shouted slogans while waiting for the verdict, which was scheduled to be announced at 10am but could not – for reasons hitherto unknown – be revealed until 7pm.

Workers from both the parties kept exchanging heated words with the police and tried getting at each other by removing the barricades and barbed wires separating the two fierce rivals.

A Gullu Butt lookalike was also on the scene. Sitting on a friend’s shoulders, he delivered a speech against the PTI. However, he disappeared after a short while.

Meanwhile, some unidentified pickpockets stole PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik’s wallet, resulting in party supporters shouting slogans against the PTI, holding its workers responsible for the theft.


Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2015.