Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday has turned down the plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking suspension of Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision regarding re-polling in NA-75 Daska on March 18.
During the proceedings, PTI lawyer advocate Mohammad Shahzad Shaukat said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had raised objections over 23 polling stations. The returning officer said that no concerns were recorded on the results of 340 polling stations, he added.
Shahzad Shaukat adopted the stance that the commission had exceeded from its authority by ordering re-poll in NA-75 Daska.
Meanwhile, SC judge Justice Umar Ata Bandial remarked that the case can possibly be concluded before the polling day. He further directed to record arguments over the jurisdiction of the ECP in this matter.
Subsequently, the court has adjourned the hearing till March 16 and directed ECP and PML-N candidate to submit relevant data.
In February 2021, the ECP had nullified by-election in NA-75 Daska and ordered to conduct re-polling in the entire constituency on March 18.
Announcing the reserved verdict, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja had declared that the by-poll in the constituency was not fair and transparent. Law and order situation was disrupted while an environment of fear was also created among the locals, he added.
The returning officer in NA-75 Daska had withheld the by-poll results in NA-75 Daska due to violence and alleged vote fraud.
According to the unofficial results of 337 polling stations, PML-N candidate Nosheen Iftikhar (97,588 votes) was leading Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Asjad Malhi (94,541 votes). However, results of 23 polling stations were delayed.
The returning officer had expressed doubts over the results of 20 polling stations in the preliminary report.
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