Election tribunal issues notices to ECP, MNAs on pleas against results of four NA constituencies

An election tribunal of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNAs on petitions challenging the election results of Karachi’s National Assembly constituencies NA-236, NA-237, NA-242 and NA-246.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates Alamgir Khan, Zahoor Mehsud, Malik Arif and Dawa Khan had challenged the election results of NA-236, NA-237, NA-242 and NA-246 respectively, claiming that the returning officers had manipulated the consolidated results, and that according to Form 45, they had obtained the highest number of votes in their respective constituencies.

The petitioners’ counsel said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to upload Form 45 of the polling stations of the constituencies on its website, disregarding the legal requirement to do so within 14 days of polling, as stipulated in the Section 92(10) of the Elections Act.

The counsel said that the Form 45 had been tampered with in the favour of the respondent candidates, and that the votes cast in favour of the petitioners had been suspiciously transferred in favour of the MQM and the PPP candidates, effectively revising the electoral income in favour of the respondents.

He said the ECP’s failure to detect and rectify these discrepancies in a timely manner raised serious questions about the efficacy of the electoral oversight mechanism in place, calling into question the integrity of the entire electoral process.

He also said that the failure of the election officers to conduct the consolidation in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Elections Act and rules had put a mark upon the fairness of the polls conducted in the constituencies.

The tribunal was requested to withdraw and set aside the notification with regard to declaring the respondents returned candidates, and restrain them from attending the NA session until the decision of the petitions.

After a preliminary hearing of the petitions, the election tribunal issued notices to the ECP, MNAs Hasan Sabir, Asad Alam Niazi, Mustafa Kamal and Syed Aminul Haq telling them to file their comments on May 15.