PHC issues notices in eight election petitions

PESHAWAR: The Election Tribunal in its first hearing of election petitions on Monday put on notice the returned candidates, including Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri and Awami National Party (ANP) Member National Assembly (MNA) Ameer Haider Hoti.

The tribunal headed by Justice Mussarat Hilali issued notices to the respondent MNA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies in the eight election petitions. They were directed them to submit replies before next hearing.

The tribunal issued the notice to Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri in an election petition filed by rival candidate Shah Jee Gul Afridi from NA-43, Tribal Areas-IV, Khyber.

Shah Jee Gul Afridi is seeking re-polling on the constituency, claiming that women's votes were wrongly polled. He alleged that the presiding officers of 10 polling stations took filled bags of votes to their houses.

The petitioner claimed that he was not allowed to run the election campaign in 23 polling stations. Barrister Gohar Ali appeared for the Shah Jee Gul Afridi in the election petition. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Noorul Haq Qadri had won election from NA-43, Tribal Area-IV by securing 33,243 votes. According to ECP, an independent candidate Shah Jee Gul Afridi stood second by getting 30,151 votes.

The tribunal also put on notice respondent MNA Ameer Haider Hoti, former chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in an election petition filed by PTI's Muhammad Atif, seeking recounting of NA-21 Mardan.

As per the Form 47 of the ECP, Ameer Haider Hoti of ANP won the election by obtaining 78,911 votes while PTI's Muhammad Atif remained second with 78,876 votes. There is only 35 vote difference; this was why, the PTI candidate, who is now Provincial Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Tourism, Culture, Sports, Archaeology and Youth Affairs, filed petition for recounting.

The tribunal also put on notice Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) MNA Abdul Shakoor Bhittani in the election petition filed by the losing candidate of PTI, Qaiser Jamal. As per the ECP Form 47, Abdul Shakoor Bhittani from National Assembly constituency NA-51, Tribal Area-XII, won election by securing 21,896 votes and PTI candidate Qaiser Jamal stood second by getting 18,689 votes.

Qazi Muhammad Anwar appeared for the petitioner. He submitted that as per the nomination form of MMA MNA Abdul Shakoor, received from ECP official website, he had only mentioned his son Muhammad and under the law, he should have mentioned his wife, all daughters and sons.

He argued that under the law, he could be disqualified from the MNA seat for not mentioning the name of wife and all children. The tribunal, in another election petition, issued notice to the PML-N's winning MPA Jamshed Khan Mohmand from PK-55. The PTI's losing candidate Adil Nawaz filed the election petition for disqualification of the PML-N MPA, claiming that the election was rigged and his polling agents were allegedly expelled from the polling stations.

As per the election results, PML-N candidate Jamshed Mohmand secured 22,447 votes, while PTI candidate Adil Nawaz got 20,003 votes.