Election tribunal rejects Shahbaz’s election plea against Vawda

KARACHI: The Election Tribunal on Friday dismissed election petition of Pakistan Muslim League (N) President Mian Shahbaz Sharif against declaring PTI's Faisal Vawda a returned candidate from NA-249 Karachi. Shahbaz Sharif had challenged the election results in which his rival PTI candidate was declared as successful. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that PML(N) candidate Mian Shahbaz Sharif had contested election for NA-249 and secured 34,626 votes whereas PTI candidate Mohammad Faisal Vawda secured 35,349 votes. He submitted that there was only a difference of 723 votes, whereas the number of the rejected votes was 2,684. He submitted that the petitioner’s application for recounting was also rejected by the RO.

He submitted that petitioner also approached ECP for recounting but he was told to approach the appropriate forum through election petition. He referred to the orders of Lahore and Sindh High Courts in identical cases where recounting of votes was ordered. Faisal Vawda’s counsel challenging the maintainability of the petition submitted that the petition does not meet the requirements of section 144 of the Election Act and must be dismissed. The Election Tribunal’s single bench headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed observed that it is apparent that the objections of the respondent about the verification of petition is borne out and dismissed the petition.

In yet another case, the Election Tribunal also dismissed the application of PML(N) candidate for PS-116 for recounting of votes. The PML(N) candidate Saleheen submitted that he secured 9,711 votes from PS-115 whereas PTI candidate Malik Shahzad Awan secured 9,966 votes out of which 973 votes were declared invalid. He submitted that the difference of votes between the petitioner and respondent is only of 255. He said the returning officer rejected the application for recount. The respondent’s counsel strongly opposed the recounting submitting that neither the application nor the supporting affidavit mentions any ground for recount and the returning officer had rightly rejected the application for recount. The tribunal observing that the bare plea for complete recount of votes is not merited, dismissed the petition.

In a similar case, the election tribunal also rejected the election petition of PTI’s candidate against the election results of PS-128 Karachi. The petitioner Nusrat Anwar had challenged the election results of PS-128 in which MQM’s candidate Mohammad Abbas Jaffery was declared as returned candidate. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the PTI candidate had obtained 27,771 votes against the returned candidate Mohammad Abbas Jaffery who obtained 29,480 votes. He submitted that there is difference of 1,500 votes alleging discrepancies in vote count forms of 35 polling stations. He submitted the application for recounting of votes was rejected by the RO.