ECP orders vote recount in Karachi's NA-231

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday ordered the recounting of the votes in four polling stations of Karachi’s NA 231-Malir (III), ARY News reported.

An independent candidate backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Khalid Mehmood Ali filed a plea against the victory of Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Abdul Hakim Baloch who won the seat by 389 votes in the 8th February’s general elections.

Accepting the plea of the PTI-backed independent candidate, the ECP ordered the recounting of votes in four polling stations. According to the ECP, the vote recount will be held on October 11.

It may be noted here that PPP’s Abdul Hakim Baloch bagged the seat with a lead of 389 votes, totaling 43,634. Khalid Mehmood Ali finished runner-up with 43,245 votes followed by Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Umar Farooq with 14,143 votes.

Earlier, the PTI lost another seat secured in the February 8 general elections after a vote recount, ARY News reported.

According to details, PTI’s Sarbuland Khan lost to Asif Moosa of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from Sindh Assembly constituency PS-112 after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) held a vote recount.

After a notification issued by the ECP, PPP’s Asif Moosa took oath as a member of the Sindh Assembly. After the revised results, PPP’s Asif Moosa secured the seat with 11,724 followed by PTI’s Sarbuland Khan who bagged 9,943 votes.

Vying as PTI-backed independent candidate Sarbuland Khan was declared as winner on February 8 with 16,287 votes while the PPP’s Asif Moosa could get 10,784 votes

The PTI’s candidate had also approached the Sindh High Court against the vote recount. He maintained that the ECP ordered the returning officer (RO) for a recount despite that he had already taken oath as an MPA.