ISLAMABAD: An election tribunal headed by a choose of the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom on Monday mentioned the tribunal would challenge arrest warrants in opposition to the returning officers of three Islamabad constituencies over their non-appearance and proceed ex parte on the ballot petitions filed in opposition to the ultimate outcomes.
The tribunal led by Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri issued notices to all of the respondents, together with the returned candidates, ECP officers and the returning officers, on these petitions. When the tribunal resumed listening to on Monday, the respondents have been in attendance; nevertheless, the ROs have been absent.
In three separate orders, the choose gave “final and last alternative” to the “returning officer (RO), to allow the presence of his counsel, or to seem in individual on the following date of listening to”.
In case of non-compliance, “warrants of arrest shall be issued”, the choose warned.
In the course of the proceedings, PTI-backed Ali Bukhari was represented by advocate Syed Ashfaq Naqvi. He argued earlier than the courtroom that beneath the Elections Act, the presiding officer was obligated to say the entire variety of legitimate votes in addition to these excluded from the rely in Kind-45. These particulars, nevertheless, weren’t talked about within the kind, he added.
In line with the ECP’s extra director common legislation, the fee had no objection concerning the submitting of licensed copies of Kinds-45, 46, and 47 together with affidavits in addition to the outcomes uploaded on the Election Administration System (EMS) by the presiding officers.
The courtroom directed all of the respondents within the courtroom to file written statements and parawise feedback to the petitions together with unique Kinds-45 and 46, inside one week.
It could be recalled that the Election Fee of Pakistan had declared Anjum Aqeel Khan, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Raja Khurram Nawaz Khan as returned candidates from NA-46, NA-47 and NA-48, respectively.
The petitioners Amir Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen, and Mohammad Ali Bukhari contested the Feb 8 elections as unbiased nominees backed by the PTI after the occasion misplaced its ‘bat’ image over intra-party polls.
Two days after the elections, they challenged the outcomes earlier than the ECP on Feb 10 and the fee issued a established order order the next day. Nonetheless, the ECP on Feb 11 issued the notification that declared Mr Khan, Mr Chaudhry, and Mr Raja as winners.
As per Kind-47 for NA-47, PML-N’s candidate Tariq Fazal Chaudhry bagged 102,502 votes in opposition to PTI’s Shaheen, who took 86,396 votes.
In NA-48, Raja Khurram Shehzad, who was the joint nominee of the PML-N and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Social gathering (IPP), contested the elections as an unbiased candidate. He defeated Mr Bukhari by securing 69,699 votes in opposition to Bukhari’s 59,851 votes. He joined the PML-N after the election. PML-N’s Anjum Aqeel Khan gained the NA-46 seat with 81,958 votes.
Revealed in Daybreak, Might twenty first, 2024