ISLAMABAD: In a significant development, the Lahore High Court (Rawalpindi bench) on Wednesday restrained the returning officer (RO) from consolidation of result of PP-7 (Rawalpindi-II) by-election, converting a petition challenging the RO’s decision to reject plea for recount into an application to be taken up by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for hearing today (Thursday).

The order was passed by the court on a petition filed by PTI candidate Shabbir Awan assailing the RO’s ‘illegal decision’ of rejecting plea for recount in PP-7 where he lost to PML-N’s Raja Sagheer Ahmed with a razor-thin margin of 49 votes amidst a controversy over rejection of more than 1,500 votes.

The petition filed by Mr Awan through Barrister Raja Jibran Tariq Ali said an application under Sec­tion 95(5) of the Elections Act had immediately been filed before the RO for recounting of votes but the same was illegally rejected by him for extraneous reasons.

It said an application under Section 95(6) of the Act had also been filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which did not entertain it.

His counsel submitted that the RO had no jurisdiction or authority to reject the application of the petitioner and that he was ‘bound to recount’ the votes as per mandate of Section 95(1) of the Act. He also said that the RO did not follow the process requirements envisaged by Section 95(2) and necessary notice of consolidation of the result was not given to the petitioner.

The court order said that without going into the merits of the decision rendered by the RO, it was clear that an application filed before the ECP was not being entertained. The court issued direction to the ECP to treat the writ petition by the PTI candidate as his application under Section 95 (6) of the Elections Act and shall pass a decision thereon after granting hearing to the petitioner. “In order to streamline the process, the petitioner is directed to appear before the respondent [ECP] on July 21 at 10am when the needful shall be done,” read the order passed by Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

Till the time the ECP passed an order, the RO was restrained from consolidating the result.

Mr Awan in his petition filed with the ECP claimed the result of PP-7 had been delayed though all the presiding officers had reached the RO in time. “….the result, despite all presiding officers reaching in time, was announced late at 1:40am on 18-07-2022 whereas the results for other constituencies were announced well before 8:00pm 17-07-2022, [that] also raises questions on the counting of votes [in] the said constituency”, the petition reads.

The petitioner further claimed when the results of 265 out of 266 polling stations was uploaded on the RTS, he was in the lead of 312 votes and at the climax of the results of the PP-7 Rawalpindi-II, RTS system broke down. “After considerable time when the RTS system was restored, polling station number 63, the 266th station, was already uploaded and PML(N) candidate won by a small margin of 49 votes,” he argued.

He also narrated the story of proceedings before the RO who he said instead of issuing notice under Section 95(1) of the Act took up for hearing the plea for recount. He said the contesting candidates were asked to await result to be announced at 6:30pm but then at around 9:30pm, they were told to leave and that they would be informed of the order over the phone. The RO in the late hours then rejected the application and simultaneously issued a notice for the consolidation of result.

While talking to Dawn, PTI senior vice president and ex-minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the RO overstepped his authority by rejecting the plea for recount though Section 95 of the Elections Act was very clear.

Terming the LHC’s decision historic, he said it was probably the eighth or ninth decision of the ECP reversed by court. “This reflects consistent malaise on part of ECP,” he added.

While claiming that a transparent recount would show PTI candidate in lead of 200-300 votes, Mr Fawad said at the very beginning of the consolidation of result proceedings, before being stayed by court, a difference of 15 votes had come to light. He was of the opinion that rejection of votes on the basis of stamps affixed by the polling staff on the back of ballot paper was incomprehensible. “How can you punish the voters and the candidates for incompetence of the polling staff?” he questioned.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2022