PDM to challenge vote rejection decision in court following Gillani's defeat

The Opposition has said it will approach the court over the decision to reject seven votes in the race for chairmanship that saw their candidate Yousad Raza Gillani defeated by government-backed nominee Sadiq Sanjrani, who was the previous chairman.

Gillani obtained 42 votes versus Sanjrani's 48. Eight of the total 98 votes cast were rejected, including seven cast in Gillani's favour, as his name had been stamped upon.

Leaders from the 11-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement held a joint press conference outside Parliament House to protest the decision.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said that the manner in which Gillani was defeated despite the opposition's majority in the upper house of parliament is "reprehensible". He also questioned how it came to be that six hidden cameras had been installed in the House.

He said that a directive was issued to stamp the vote inside the space allotted for a candidate's name. "Seven members stamped their vote inside the space allotted for Gillani, on his name," he said.

Ashraf said that the opposition hopes that Gillani will emerge victorious in court.

He said that the government "used every tactic to steal the election" and the chairman has been appointed after the opposition's majority having been denied to them.

"If Sanjarani was a lover of democracy, he would have resigned himself," he said.

PML-N General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal claimed that PDM "succeeded today".

"We got 49 votes but Yousaf Raza Gilani was defeated after seven votes were rejected," he said.

Iqbal also read out the Supreme Court's earlier rulings on the matter during the press conference and said that the court ruled that the voter's intention has to be seen.

"Stamping the name box means that the voter has the right intent and [aims to vote for that candidate]," he said.

He said that there were dozens of decisions by the Supreme Court and the High Court and rulings of the Election Commission that the ballot was valid even if the vote was stamped above the name. "Rules clearly state that the vote must simply be stamped inside the candidate's box," he said, adding: "The voter that stamped the name is not wrong to do so."

The PML-N leader said that all seven of the votes were stamped within the box of the candidate. "We will challenge the rejection of votes in court and expect it to rectify this decision," he said.