May 9, 2015, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had submitted its report before the tribunal, saying that only 73,478 votes polled in NA-122 could be verified. It also said the fingerprints on the counter-foils of only 40 percent of the total polled votes correctly matched with the fingerprint data of the registered voters, held with Nadra. A total of 93,582 votes polled did not have verified thumb impressions on counterfoils, the report added.
The tribunal announced the judgment two years after the filing of the election petition by Imran Khan.
Online adds: Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said he would go into appeal against the verdict of the Election Tribunal.
Talking to reporters in Lahore, he said he respects the tribunal’s verdict but has reservations about the basis on which the election has been declared null and void.
He said there is a reference to electoral irregularities in the verdict and he cannot be held responsible for this. “We would challenge the Election Tribunal’s verdict in the Supreme Court,” he said, adding, “We have a court for expressing our reservations.”
Muhammad Saleh Zaafir adds from Islamabad: In a guarded reaction Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has termed the verdict of the Election Tribunal in NA-122 polls as “part of legal process and all the political parties should respect it.”
In a brief message, the prime minister has made it clear that his Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) would exercise its constitutional right to seek legal remedy.
In the meantime, highly placed sources told The News that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is also president of the PML-N, has asked his legal team to study the judgment of the tribunal so that the aggrieved member of the National Assembly should knock at the door of the superior court to obtain due relief.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq called Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif immediately after the announcement of the judgment of the tribunal on Saturday evening and shared his ‘information’ about the verdict and sought his guidance on the subject.
Prime Minister Nawaz was satisfied to the extent that no allegation of rigging has been established in the process of polls as against the campaign by his opponents. He has asked Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to challenge the verdict of the tribunal at the earliest since it is his constitutional right. The prime minister was confident that Sardar Ayaz Sadiq would ultimately prove victorious.