LAHORE: Counsel for the winning candidate, Ayaz Sadiq, and the loser, Imran Khan, in NA-122 constituency, issued contradictory statements about the vote audit report of the local commission, on Saturday. While counsel for National Assembly speaker endorsed the stance of Pervaiz Rashid that Ayaz Sadiq client stood victorious after scrutiny, counsel for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said the vote audit proved rigging and irregularities on a large scale. Ayaz Sadiq’s lawer Asjad Saeed said representatives of both parties were present during the vote inspection and they saw for themselves that the number of votes of his client increased in recounting and the commission did not find any bogus votes. However, he confirmed that the tribunal has not sent any report to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He said the local commission would submit its report to the tribunal on January 12, after which it could be sent to the ECP. Imran Khan’s counsel Anees Hashmi Advocate told The News the tribunal had ordered inspection of votes and not recounting of votes. He said Saturday is an off-day at tribunal and the tribunal had directed the local commission to submit its report on January 12, after which counsel for both parties would be provided a copy of the report. He reiterated that the commission found more than 15,000 counterfoils without thumb impressions and signatures of the presiding officers. He said the number of available votes was higher than the number of counterfoils. The inspection found ballot papers of different paper quality, sizes and colours. Some ballot papers were printed on glazed paper and others on rough papers, he added. The commission also found ballot papers of NA-124 stuffed in the record of NA-122, he added. About Pervaiz Rashid press conference, he said the PML-N government was telling lies from day one and the commission report would reveal the truth.
