NA-237: SHC turns down PTI plea challenging PPP’s victory

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday turned down Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) plea seeking to stop the PPP’s victory in NA-237 Karachi by-election, ARY News reported.

PTI leader Ali Ziadi approached the SHC via a plea filed by his lawyer Dr Shahab Imam in which the party alleged the “worst kind of rigging” done in the Malir by-polls.

At the outset of the hearing, Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh directed the petitioner to approach election tribunal as the matter did not fall under its jurisdiction.

To this, the PTI lawyer Shahab Imam told the court that the party approached SHC after ECP refused to hear their plea.

“PTI wrote three letters to ECP regarding irregularities in NA-237 but no action was taken by the election body,” he said.

“Did you approach election tribunal or not”? the SHC CJ asked.

Subsequently, the SHC rejected PTI’s plea and directed it to approach the election tribunal regarding NA-237 by-polls.

Read more: NA-237 by-elections: Case filed against ‘bogus voting, DVR theft’

On Sunday, PPP candidate Abdul Hakeem Baloch defeated former prime minister Imran Khan in Karachi’s NA-237 Malir constituency.

PPP candidate obtained 32,567 votes while PTI chief Imran Khan stood second with 22,493 votes, as per unofficial and unconfirmed results from all 194 polling stations.