IHC orders vote recount in PP-269

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the recounting of votes in the PP-269 Muzaffargarh constituency by May 17, ARY News reported.

The IHC bench comprising Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz was hearing a plea filed by an independent candidate Muhammad Iqbal, maintaining that he secured the seat as per Forms 45 of the constituency.

The petitioner said that as per Form 47, he obtained 33,052 votes and finished second while Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Mian Alamdar Abbas obtained 34,588 votes.

The petitioner informed the IHC that he had challenged the results and sought re-counting of votes by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

“My recounting request was accepted by the ECP but PPP’s Mian Alamdar Abbas resigned on March 20 to avoid re-counting,” the petitioner added.

The court was requested to halt the by-election in the constituency and direct the ECP to conduct the re-counting. The IHC accepted the plea and ordered a re-count of votes before May 17.

However, the court ruled that if the results remain the same, by-election should be held in the constituency.

Earlier on May 2, the Election Tribunal at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit original Forms 45 and 46 of all three National Assembly constituencies of the capital city

The tribunal comprising Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri of the IHC, heard petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidates including Aamir Mughal from NA-46, Shoaib Shaheen from NA-47, and Ali Bukhari from NA-48.

The candidates who suffered defeats in the February 8 General Elections took their respective cases to the Election Tribunal in the Islamabad High Court after their pleas were rejected by the ECP.

They maintained that the results of the February 8 elections were tampered with and manipulated.