ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) plea seeking a recount of votes in PP-7 (Rawalpindi-II), a constituency it lost to the PML-N by a wafer-thin margin of 49 votes on July 17.

In a decision that came a day ahead of the election for the chief minister of Punjab, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja said that PTI candidate Shabbir Awan could neither prove any fraud or irregularity, nor was he able to state the ‘cogent’ reasons for the recount.

In a related development, the ECP also notified victory of 19 members of the Punjab Assembly who won the recently held by-polls.

PTI candidate Shabbir Awan represented by former additional advocate general Shaukat Rauf Siddiqui advocate and Barrister Raja Jibran Tariq Ali and PML-N candidate Raja Sagheer Ahmed represented by Sardar Taimoor Aslam appeared before the bench.

Election Commission says only general allegations levelled, which are ‘insufficient’; PTI candidate likely to take ECP to court again

During the Punjab by-elections on Sunday, PML-N’s Raja Sagheer had won the by-poll on the provincial assembly seat with a margin of just 49 votes, defeating Awan. Subsequently, Awan submitted an application to the returning officer and requested a recount. His plea was, however, rejected drawing criticism from the PTI.

The decision was challenged in the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, which while restraining the RO from consolidating the results had converted the petition into an application under section 95(6) of the Elections Act, which the ECP took up for hearing on Thursday.

ECP hearing

At the outset of the hearing, CEC Raja took the PTI candidate to task for his claim before the LHC that his application seeking recount was not being entertained by the ECP. The CEC observed that the PTI had not filed any application until 5pm on Wednesday.

“You submitted a request to the R&I department but withdrew it after 10 minutes. You filed the petition after the high court judgment,” the ECP chief said, summoning the officials of the R&I branch for a written account of what transpired on the voting day.

The CEC also chided the PTI candidate for his claim about the breakdown of the Result Transmission System (RTS), pointing out that RTS had not been used in the by-polls.

Awan’s counsel said that they had approached the court as the margin between the votes of the two parties was very thin. He contended that as soon as the results were announced, his client had immediately approached the RO and later the court for a recount.

PML-N leader Raja Sagheer’s lawyer called PTI’s request “baseless”. “Initially, they were seeking recount in the entire constituency. Now they are talking about 21 polling stations,” he said, adding that PTI’s stance was “invalid because it kept changing”.

Detailed order

In its detailed order, the CEC said the ECP may order the returning officer directly to conduct a recount if it deemed the circumstances to be grave enough to warrant such a recount.

It said the petitioner has not approached the RO, the DRO, the provincial election commission, or the ECP Secretariat with any complaint of illegalities or irregularities during the election process on the poll day.

It also said the petitioner has also failed to point out any snatching of ballot boxes, misuse of authority by the presiding officers or the returning officers, or any other grave illegality or irregularity.

It noted that only general allegations had been levelled which were not sufficient to attract recounting.

Following the ECP order, PML-N candidate Raja Sagheer is most likely to be notified as a returned candidate today (Friday), unless a stay would be granted against the process.

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that the PTI candidate is likely to approach the Lahore High Court to challenge the ECP order.

The party, via its official Twitter account, took an exception to the ruling and declared it not only against the law, but tantamount to undermining the election process in a “huge way”. The tweet also referred to the accusations of bias, levelled against the CEC by PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2022