ECP withdraws Awn Chaudhry's victory notification from NA-128

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has withdrawn the victory notification for the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s candidate Awn Chaudhry following the February 8 general elections.

According to ECP results, Chaudhry secured 172,576 votes while Barrister Raja received 159,024 votes in the constituency, but the victory notification of Awn Chaudhry was challenged by PTI-backed independent candidate Salman Akram Raja.

The decision was communicated to the Islamabad High Court by the ECP’s director-general of law.

The Islamabad High Court, in response to a petition filed by PTI-backed independent candidate Barrister Salman Akram Raja, declared Awn Chaudhry’s victory from the National Assembly constituency NA-128, Lahore, null and void.

The court also instructed the returning officer to submit a report within three days. Barrister Raja had challenged Chaudhry’s election win in the Islamabad High Court, seeking the suspension of his rival candidate’s victory notification.

Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) barred the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from releasing election result of the National Assembly constituency (NA-128) in Lahore, where PTI-backed independent candidate Salman Akram Raja was contesting against IPP candidate Awn Chaudhry.

The directives were issued on a petition filed by Salman Akram Raja, who claimed the returning officer (RO) violated the election act by not releasing the election result.