PTI petition dismissed, no evidence of rigging found: ET

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Wednesday faced another blow as the Lahore Election Tribunal (ET) Judge Rasheed Qamar dismissed an election petition of PTI’s Hamid Zaman against the victory of PML-N’s Riaz Malik in NA-118.
The tribunal, in a short order, also directed Zaman to pay the expenses borne by Malik to contest the election petition.However, the tribunal directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold an inquiry into casting of double votes by 291 voters at different polling stations of the constituency as revealed by two scanning reports of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). The tribunal directed the ECP to proceed as per the law against the polling staff, if found guilty.
Sources in the election tribunal informed The News thatthe detailed judgment of the petition would be released in a couple of days. They said that mistakes committed by the polling staff could not be considered as an act of rigging by Malik.
Zaman, the runner-up candidate, had filed the petition, alleging that the PML-N candidate committed rigging in the May 2013 general elections and stole the public mandate.
On the other end, Malik had stated he won a fair election and was not involved in any kind of rigging. He implored the court to dismiss the petition and direct the petitioner to pay the expenses he had to bear for contesting the petition.
Previously, the Nadra had submitted its report before the tribunal, stating that thumb impressions of 65,793 votes could not be verified in NA-118 and thumb impressions of voters were missing on 745 counterfoils. Another report was also submitted by the Nadra in which it informed the tribunal that the electoral rolls of 60 polling stations of NA-118 were missing. It further stated it had found a number of irregularities in the record of the constituency and the record of five polling stations was missing.
A large number of supporters of both the parties gathered outside the office of the provincial election commissioner and a heavy contingent of police was deployed there to maintain law and order.
Talking to the media after the tribunal verdict, Malik said he had been victorious twice by the grace of Allah. He said the tribunal upheld his victory which he secured in the general elections with a margin of 60,000 votes.
Disappointed with the decision, Zaman said he had reservations about the tribunal order. He said that after going through the detailed judgment, he would take the decision to challenge it in the apex court. He said he and his party had reservations about the change of the tribunal judge.
It is pertinent to mention here that before Rasheed Qamar, the same tribunal was presided over by Kazim Malik who had declared null and void the NA-122 election.