Haleem Adil challenges NA-238 results in election tribunal

Haleem Adil Sheikh, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and candidate for National Assembly constituency NA-238 East, challenged the election results of the constituency in an election tribunal on Wednesday.

He submitted in the petition that he had secured 84,049 votes, the highest number of votes, in the NA-238 East Karachi as per Form 45 received from the all polling stations, but his votes were shown reduced to 36,885 votes in Form 47 by the returning officer.

He submitted that Muttahida Qaumi Movement 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 said that the Election Commission of Pakistan 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 submitted that Form 45 has been tampered with in the favour of the respondent candidate and the votes cast in favour of the petitioner were superstitiously transferred in favour of the MQM candidate, effectively revising the electoral income in favour of the respondent.

He said that 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, also 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 the mounting pressure and public scrutiny the ECP opted to remove Form 45 from their website and effectively removed the entire folder pertaining to NA-238.

He said the failure of election officers to conduct the consolidation in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Election Act and rules had put a question mark upon the fairness of the polls conducted in the constituency.

The court was requested to withdraw and set aside the notification with regard to declaring respondent Sadiq Iftikhar as returned candidate and to restrain him from attending sessions of the National Assembly till a decision on the petition.

Speaking to the media after filing a petition in the SHC election tribunal against alleged rigging in the 2024 polls, Sheikh said the electoral process had been compromised, endangering the sanctity of votes cast by the public.

ECP put on notice

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the ECP and others on a petition of the PTI-backed candidate against denial of certified copies of Form 45 by the returning officer of NA-236.

Petitioner Alamgir Khan submitted in the petition that he was not being provided certified copies of Form 45 in violation of the election laws. He said Form 45 of NA-236 had not been uploaded by the ECP on its website, which was endorsed by the provincial law officer.

The court directed the EPC and others to file comments on the petition and explain reasons for not uploading Form 45 on its website on the next date of hearing.