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Friday March 29, 2024

Frustrated Faisal withdraws election petition

By Our Correspondent
October 19, 2019

ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister Makhdoom Faisal Salah Hayat filed an application for withdrawal of his election petition from the Election Tribunal, Lahore High Court, apparently in protest on the grounds that as 15 months have elapsed and the petition has not crossed preliminary stage of the trial and there is likelihood that National Assembly will complete its tenure without completion of the trial.

In his application, Makhdoom Faisal Salah Hayat stated, “It is submitted that the entire process of election 2018 was farce and further delay in the disposal of the titled election petition has added insult to injury. Since there is no likelihood of decision in near future, the applicant constrained to exercise its right to withdraw the same under protest.” Faisal Salah Hayat has also written an open letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.

In the open letter, Makhdoom Faisal Salah Hayat stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan has failed to conduct the elections free, fair and transparent manner and his case was classic and fit example for not following the constitution, the Act and also not performing the duties strictly in accordance with the law. “Since the margin between me and so-called returned candidate was only 0.2 percent of the total polled, and I was untitled to recount of entire votes polled in Section 95 (5) of the Act,” he stated in a letter.

He stated that an application made in RO for the account of the total votes polled in the constituency of NA-114 and the RO miserably failed to conduct the exercise according to law. He stated the total number of polling station in the constituency were 425 and the above submitted change was likely to overturn the results in favour of him, and therefor he was deprived of his guaranteed and vested rights of recounting by the RO. “In the meanwhile, the counting were also ordered by the high courts; however, the apex courts of the country directed that these issues raised before the Election Tribunals,” he stated.

He stated that resultantly, he constrained to institute the election petition No 28 before the learned election tribunal of the Lahore High Court, and again the Section 148 of the Act categorically commands the election petition heard on day to day basis and the same have been decided within a period of 120 days from the date of filing, whereas, the election petition filed by him on September 2018 still pending to date and that too at preliminary stage.

He stated that there is no likelihood of its final adjudication before the expiry of the term of National Assembly and the delay is deciding the petition is bound to continuously deprive his valuable, legal and guaranteed rights and the voters of NA-114 Jhang-1of their right of representation. “The legal system has miserably failed to meet the mandatory requirements of providing the speedy justice as demanded by the Act; therefore, the cardinal principle of law that ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ and in his case the justice has already been denied.

In his letter, Salah Hayat stated that “My Lord, it was also be noted that the ECP was failed to perform its lawful obligations even at pre-poll stage of the elections while conducting the delimitation of the constituencies and the delimitation was made in a novel manner and the orders of Islamabad High Court, Islamabad in this regard were also avoided.”

He stated that the total natural constitutional life of the National Assembly 60 months, out of which 15 months passed which is 25 percent has elapsed and the election petitions have still to cross the hurdle of the preliminary stage. ‘Therefore, pursuing the election petition is, in the humble opinion of undersigned, futile exercise, since the same is likely to consume the entire constitutional life of National Assembly,” he stated.

He stated that hence he was left with no other option but to withdraw the election petition in protest and all these facts have been brought to your kind notice with the hope that the issues raised therein may get addressed and resolved to avoid any frustration to others.