ISLAMABAD: In a significant development, the Lahore High Court (Rawalpindi Bench) on Wednesday restrained the Returning Officer (RO) from consolidating the result of PP-7 (Rawalpindi-II) by-election, challenging the RO’s decision to quash the results. The granting petition was changed. Petition for review of an application to be taken up by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for hearing today (Thursday).
The court had passed the order criticizing the “illegal decision” of the RO on a petition filed by PTI candidate Shabbir Awan. dismiss the petition For recounting in PP-7 where he lost to PML-N’s Raja Sagir Ahmed by a narrow margin of 49 votes, disputed the rejection of over 1,500 votes.
The petition, filed by Mr. Awan through Barrister Raja Gibran Tariq Ali, states that an application was immediately filed before the RO for recounting of votes under section 95(5) of the Election Act, but it was declared invalid for external reasons. was categorically rejected.
It said that an application under section 95(6) of the Act was also filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which did not consider the same.
His counsel submitted that the RO had no jurisdiction or authority to reject the petitioner’s application and was bound to ‘re-count’ the votes as per the mandate of section 95(1) of the Act. He also stated that the RO did not follow the procedure requirements envisaged by section 95(2) and necessary information of consolidation of the result was not given to the petitioner.
The court order said that without going into the merits of the decision rendered by the RO, it was clear that an application filed before the ECP was not being entertained. The court directed the ECP to treat the writ petition by the PTI candidate as its application under Section 95 (6) of the Election Act and pass judgment on the same after allowing the petitioner to be heard. “In order to streamline the process, the petitioner is directed to appear before the respondent” [ECP] On July 21 at 10 am when necessary work will be done,” read the order passed by Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza, a copy of which is available with Dawn.
Till the time the ECP passed the order, the RO was barred from consolidating the results.
Mr Awan, in his petition filed with the ECP, claimed that there was a delay in the result of PP-7 though all the presiding officers had reached the RO in time. “… the result, despite all presiding officers arriving on time, was declared late on 18-07-2022 at 1:40 hrs, while the results for other constituencies before 17-07-2022 at 8:00 hrs were declared, [that] Questions raised on counting of votes [in] said constituency”, the petition reads.
The petitioner further claimed that when the results of 265 out of 266 polling stations were uploaded on RTS, he was leading by 312 votes and at the peak of results of PP-7 Rawalpindi-II, the RTS system broke down. He argued, “After a long time when the RTS system was restored, polling station number 63, 266th station was already uploaded and the PML(N) candidate won by a small margin of 49 votes.”
He also narrated the story of the proceedings before the RO, which he said was taken up for hearing the petition for recalculation instead of issuing notice under section 95(1) of the Act. He said the contesting candidates were told to wait for the declaration of results at 6:30 pm, but were then asked to leave at around 9:30 pm and would be informed about the order over the phone. RO rejected the application till late night as well as issued notice for consolidation of result.
while talking to dawnPTI senior vice-president and former minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain said section 95 of the Election Act was very clear, however, the RO overstepped his authority by dismissing the petition for recounting.
Terming the LHC’s decision as historic, he said it was probably the eighth or ninth decision of the ECP which was overturned by the court. “This shows the persistent malaise on the part of the ECP,” he said.
Claiming that a transparent recount would show the PTI candidate a lead of 200-300 votes, Mr Fawad said at the beginning of the consolidation of the result proceedings, a difference of 15 votes had come to the fore, before being stayed by the court. He was of the opinion that it was incomprehensible to reject the votes on the basis of the stamps pasted by the polling staff on the back of the ballot paper. “How can you punish voters and candidates for the incompetence of polling staff?” he questioned.
Published in Dawn, July 21, 2022