The Lahore High Court has restrained the returning officer of the NA-128 constituency from notifying the election result based on Form 47.

Justice Ali Baqar Najafi passed the order on a petition filed by Advocate Salman Akram Raja, a PTI-backed independent candidate from the constituency, against Awn Chaudhry of the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party.

Raja personally appeared before the court along with his counsel. The counsel argued that Mr Raja was not allowed to witness the process of vote count and that his polling agent was not handed over Form 45 by the polling staff.

Raja was even expelled from the polling station by the returning officer with assistance from the police, the counsel said. This incident prompted the candidate to file a complaint with the CCPO of Lahore regarding the polling staff’s behaviour.

Read more here.

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