ECP reissued with notice on plea against vote count in Karachi

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday repeated its notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the federal government and others on the Pak Sarzameen Party’s (PSP) petition challenging the ballot count at all the polling stations of Karachi in the July 25 elections.

PSP Karachi chief Asif Husnain said in his petition that the ECP and its district returning officers and returning officers had failed to conduct fair and transparent polls in the city. The petitioner’s counsel Hasan Sabir said the returning officers and the presiding officers had failed to comply with the mandatory requirements of the Elections Act and the Election Rules.

He said the polling agents were not allowed to witness the counting of votes, and that the presiding officers did not prepare the results of the ballot count in the presence of the polling agents of the candidates.

Sabir said the presiding officers did not affix the result of the vote count at the polling stations and Form 45 and Form 46 were not provided to the polling agents of the candidates. He said that various provisions of the Elections Act and the Election Rules were ignored.

The court was requested to declare the ballot count at all the polling stations of Karachi as illegal and to direct the ECP to conduct elections in Karachi again. The PSP also sought dismissal of the ECP officials for allegedly failing to perform their duties in accordance with the relevant laws.