The election tribunal of the Sindh High Court on Friday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to keep all the original Forms 45 in respect of National Assembly constituency NA-238 East in a safe and secure place, separate from other constituencies, with all the relevant bags being sealed and where no party has access to it.
The direction came on a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed candidate Haleem Adil Sheikh against the election results of the constituency.
The election tribunal headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha observed that the petitioner had filed an application with regard to the production of original Form 45 of the constituency and its submission to the election tribunal.
The petitioner’s counsel Ali Tahir submitted that the entire controversy surrounds tampering with Forms 45 allegedly by the ECP and Returning officer Farooq Ahmed Qazi.
The tribunal, after hearing the arguments of the counsel, observed that tribunal did not consider that it is necessary to call for the record of Forms 45. The tribunal however directed the ECP to keep the original Forms 45 in a safe and secure place separate from other constituencies with all the relevant bags being sealed and where no party has access to it.
It made it clear that during the course of deciding the petition such original forms might be called by the tribunal if deemed necessary.
The tribunal repeated notices to all other respondents, including RO Farooq Ahmed Qazi, observing that RO be also served with a notice through the chief secretary, who shall file a service report through the advocate general of Sindh on the next date of the hearing.
It also directed that Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Saifuddin, who polled 3rd highest number of votes, be in attendance and he be also served with a notice through the SSP East.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that he shall ensure that all documents which were not in English are translated into English prior to the next date of the hearing. The counsel for Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s candidate Sadiq Iftikhar also sought time to file power on behalf of his client.
The tribunal observed that it shall hear arguments on the maintainability of the petition on April 19 and no adjournment will be granted to any of the respondents under any circumstances.
Haleem Adil Sheikh submitted in the petition that he had secured the highest 84,049 votes from the NA-238 East Karachi as per Forms 45 received from the all polling stations; however, his votes were shown reduced to 36,885 votes in Forms 47 by the returning officer.
He said MQM-Pakistan candidate Sadiq Iftikhar, who secured 10,302 votes as per Form 45, was shown to have polled the highest number of votes i.e. 54,885 by the RO.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the ECP failed to upload Form 45 for the 292 polling stations of the constituency, disregarding the legal requirement to do so within 14 days of polling as stipulated in Section 92(10) of the Election Act.
The counsel said Forms 45 have been tampered with in favour of the respondent candidate and votes cast in favour of the petitioners were superstitiously transferred in favour of the MQM candidate, effectively revising the electoral outcome in favour of the respondent.
He said the failure of the ECP to detect and rectify these discrepancies in a timely manner raises serious questions about the efficacy of the electoral oversight mechanism in place, calling into question the integrity of the entire electoral process.
The counsel submitted that the uploading of these manipulated forms sparked a wave of outrage on various social media platforms with individuals swiftly denouncing the evident rigging; however, in response to mounting pressure and public scrutiny the ECP opted to remove Form 45 from their website, effectively removing the entire folder pertaining to NA-238.
He submitted that the failure of election officers to conduct the vote consolidation in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Election Act and rules has a put a question mark upon the fairness of the polls conducted in the constituency.
The tribunal was requested to withdraw and set aside the notification with regard to declaring Sadiq Iftikhar as returned candidate and to restrain him from attending sessions of the National Assembly till a decision on the petition.