IHC disposes of pleas against results of 3 capital constituencies

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday sent the matter pertaining to the election results in three constituencies of federal capital to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and disposed of the petitions.

The court declared that the victory notifications of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawazs (PMLN) candidates in NA-46, 47 and 48 would remain suspended till the ECP’s decision on the pending cases.

The IHC bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir heard the intra-court appeals (ICA) filed by independent candidates Barrister Shoaib Shaheen, Aamer Mughal and Ali Bokhari Advocate.

During the course of proceedings, the ECP’s counsel adopted the stance that the petitioners did not tell the facts to the bench.

Forms 48 and 49 were also compiled from the Forms-47 and then the notifications were issued.

He said that the returning officer had stated that he was not doing consolidation yet, and later, he summoned Shoaib Shaheen but he did not appear.

Justice Miangul Hassan questioned whether the Commission sought a clarification from the RO.

The ECP lawyer said that the body had sought a report from RO till tomorrow. The court noted that the decisions were not taken on the applications pending with the ECP but the notifications were issued. It said that it was conditioning the success notifications with the decisions of ECP on the pending applications.

The court then disposed of the petitions with the above instructions.

It said that the notifications for the victory of three candidates would remain suspended till the decisions of ECP.