ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique seemed quite jittery after the Supreme Court ordered the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to verify thumb impressions on available ballot paper counterfoils used in the NA-125 (Lahore) constituency for the 2013 general elections.

“I had no idea that after winning the elections, I would constantly need to appear before the courts. But the final decision is still not in sight,” Mr Rafique told reporters soon after Tuesday’s hearing.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, had taken up an appeal filed by Mr Rafique, requesting that the May 4, 2015 cancellation of his election by a tribunal be set aside.

The last hearing on Jan 19 had to be adjourned because Advocate Ahmed Awais, who represents Saad Rafique’s opponent Hamid Khan, was not available.

Though Tuesday’s directions to Nadra, asking it to verify the counterfoils, were not challenged by the minister’s counsel Khawaja Muhammad Haris, Mr Rafiq looked visibly disappointed after the hearing.

It may be mentioned that on Jan 19 the apex court had directed Nadra to verify within three months voters’ thumb impressions in NA-110 (Sialkot), where PML-N stalwart and defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif won the elections.

Nadra ordered to verify thumbprints of over 200,000 voters in the minister’s constituency

Then, just a few days ago, the Supreme Court de-seated a sitting PML-N lawmaker, retired Justice Iftikhar Ahmad Cheema, and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold fresh elections in his constituency, NA-101 (Gujranwala).

Both NA-110 and NA-125 were among the four constituencies highlighted by the PTI leadership in their campaign to establish widespread rigging in the 2013 elections. Though PML-N remained successful in the by-elections in NA-122 (Lahore), it recently lost the fourth seat, NA-154 (Lodhran) to PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen.

However, the verification of thumb impressions on ballot counterfoils will not be free, rather the cost of the entire exercise will be borne by the respondent or Hamid Khan, who had lost the elections.

The decision came after Advocate Ahmed Awais referred to the rejection of his application by an election tribunal on Feb 25, 2014 and sought directions for the examination of thumb impressions on ballot counterfoils.

During the hearing, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed observed that the physical verification of the 220,000 available ballot papers might take a lot of time, but it would satisfy the court.

When asked for his opinion, Khawaja Haris candidly accorded his consent, but without prejudicing the rights available to his client if the court decides to go ahead with the verification exercise. He, however, stressed that the respondents had failed to prove any legal basis for the exercise, since they had not moved a fresh application before the court.

But the Supreme Court ordered ECP to send all available counterfoils of ballot papers to Nadra so they could be compared with the information available in its database.

Nadra has three months to complete the exercise, when the court will take up the case next.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2016