ECP rejects Imran’s allegations

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday rejected all allegations levelled by PTI Chairman Imran Khan. “All these allegations have nothing to do with reality. The commission will continue to perform its duties in accordance with the Constitution and law,” said ECP spokesperson Haroon Shinwari.

Meanwhile, the PTI has sought a recount of votes in PP-7 Rawalpindi-II, casting doubts over the defeat of its candidate with a razor-thin margin. The returning officer concerned has called all contesting candidates to his office on Tuesday (today) for a decision on the plea.

PML-N candidate Raja Sagheer won the by-poll on the Punjab Assembly seat with a margin of just 49 votes, defeating PTI’s Muhammad Shabbir Awan as per the unofficial result, prompting the PTI to question the delayed announcement of results in the constituency.

In his application, Shabbir Awan contended that the winning PMLN candidate received 68,906 votes, while he secured 68,857 with the difference of a mere 49 votes. He said the Result Transmission System was meant to transmit Form 45: the statement of the count; from polling stations to the returning officer and the ECP Secretariat while using a smart phone. He pointed out that the difference in votes between him and the winning candidate fell under the prescribed threshold of five per cent of total votes polled and 10,000 votes pursuant to Section 95 (5) of the Elections Act 2017.

Section 95(5) of the act reads: “Before commencement of the consolidation proceedings, the returning officer shall recount ballot papers of one or more polling stations if a request or challenge in writing is made by a contesting candidate or his election agent and the margin of victory is less than five per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency or 10,000 votes, whichever is less…”. Under a proviso with the section, the recount is to be made by the returning officer only once.

The RO concerned has summoned all candidates to the election camp office in Kahuta at 11:30am on Tuesday (today) for a decision.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had established 266 polling stations, comprising 787 polling booths, for 335,295 registered voters in the constituency. A total of six candidates were in the run in PP-7, which includes Kahuta and Kallar Syedan.