LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday restrained the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from issuing the victory notification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan from NA-131, Lahore, and ordered the returning officer to hold a recount of all ballot papers.

Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh passed this order while allowing a petition moved by Khawaja Saad Rafique, the runner-up candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz from the constituency.

When contacted, PTI lawyer Babar Awan told Dawn that the LHC decision would soon be challenged.

He said the PTI had been given three days to challenge the judgement, adding it was difficult for the party to submit its reply in such a short time.

Allows PML-N leader’s petition for complete vote recount; PTI to challenge decision

Imran Khan has been declared returned candidate from the Lahore constituency in the July 25 general election with 84,313 votes polled in his favour against 83,633 votes secured by Mr Rafique.

Mr Rafique had asked the returning officer for recounting of ballots, saying he had lost the election with a narrow margin of 680 votes.

The returning officer carried out recounting of 2,832 rejected votes only and turned down the PML-N candidate’s request to the extent of complete ballot papers. At least 200 rejected votes were declared valid after the recounting and with it the margin of Mr Rafique’s defeat decreased from 680 to 605 votes.

Later, the former minister approached the high court challenging dismissal of his application for complete recounting by the returning officer.

During Saturday’s hearing at the LHC, Mr Rafiq’s counsel Azam Nazir Tarar argued that the returning officer had violated fundamental rights of the petitioner by refusing to hold recounting of all ballots.

He said the petitioner’s request for recounting was very much logical and justifiable since the margin of the respondent’s victory was very thin.

The lawyer argued that the returning officer was bound to hold recounting under Section 95 (5) of the Election Act 2017, but he refused to exercise his powers.

Advocate Babar Awan, appearing on behalf of Imran Khan, opposed the petition pleading that the consolidation of the result had been completed when the petitioner filed an application for recounting.

The counsel said the process of recounting of rejected votes was completed on the choice of the petitioner. He said when defeat of the petitioner remained intact after recounting of the rejected votes, he immediately filed another application for a complete recounting.

Advocate Awan said that forums were available for the petitioner to assail the entire process of the election. He said a returned candidate could not be punished for the mistakes of the ECP and asked the court to dismiss the petition for being not maintainable.

The legal adviser of the ECP also opposed the petition and argued that it was defective one as the petitioner had made only one candidate (Imran Khan) party in the case and failed to include 11 other candidates of the constituency.

He also said that the consolidation of the result had been completed when the petitioner asked for the recounting.

After hearing arguments of the parties, Justice Sheikh allowed the petition of Mr Rafiq and ordered the returning officer to hold recounting of all ballot papers. The judge said that the ECP would not issue the notification of the result of the constituency.

Later, talking to reporters, Mr Rafiq said that all political parties, except the PTI, questioned the transparency of the 2018 general election. “It was not election but selection,” he added.

He said that Mr Khan had declared that every constituency was open for an election audit, if requested, but his lawyer kept opposing recounting before the court.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2018