LAHORE: An election tribunal comprising Justice Anwaar Hussain of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday allowed time to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to furnish polling records of the constituencies of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Federal Minister for Privatisation Abdul Aleem Khan.

A legal counsel for the ECP appeared before the tribunal and sought time to produce the complete records of the constituencies, including certified copies of Forms-45, 46 and 47.

The tribunal allowed the request and adjourned the hearing of the election petitions against the chief minister and the federal minister till July 25.

Earlier, the lawyers for both returned candidates also appeared before the tribunal and questioned the maintainability of the election petitions.

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Barrister Asadullah Chattha argued on behalf of CM Maryam Nawaz and asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition.

The tribunal directed the counsel to come up with more arguments at the next hearing.

PTI-backed independent candidate Mehar Sharafat Ali filed the election petition against the victory of CM Maryam from PP-159, alleging rigging in the Feb 8 election.

As per the results announced by the ECP, she bagged 23,598 votes while petitioner Ali got 21,491 votes.

Ali Ijaz of the PTI challenged the victory of Federal Minister for Privatisation Abdul Aleem Khan from NA-117.

Aleem Khan, also president of the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), won the election by getting 91,498 votes while the runner-up candidate obtained 80,838 votes.

At the previous hearing, the tribunal had ordered the ECP to file certified copies of Forms-45, 46 and 47 along with an affidavit as well as result, which had been uploaded on the Election Management System by the presiding officers.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2024