SC green-lights re-polling in entire NA-75 Daska

Ag Agencies

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to hold fresh elections in the entire constituency of NA-75 Sialkot-IV (Daska), which the electoral body had voided due to a string of controversies on polling day.

A three-member bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Ali Asjad Malhi’s petition against the ECP’s decision and announced a short order. A detailed verdict is expected to be issued later.

On February 25, the ECP had declared the by-election held on February 19 void and ordered a fresh election on March 18, which was later rescheduled to April 10. The election was controversial after 20 election officers were said to have gone “missing”, three political workers were killed and there were incidents of aerial firing.

In the short order, Justice Bandial said the court had taken the decision in light of the law, the Constitution and its own jurisdiction. He said guidelines would be issued to prevent similar incidents in the future. In the hearing, ECP counsel Mian Abdul Rauf argued that the commission’s decision did not mention organised rigging and was based on violations of the law. He said the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab and other officials did not respond to repeated calls, polling remained suspended at 13 polling stations while firing incidents also took place in the constituency.

“If all the clauses of the Election Act were not implemented, the election was considered null and void,” he added. Mian Rauf said it was “clear that countless clauses of the Act were violated”.

Justice Bandial urged the ECP counsel to state the legal points that were necessary and rely only on the documents on which the commission had made its decision. Abdul Rauf said there was no mention of organised fraud in the ECP’s decision. The PTI candidate’s counsel, Shehzad Shaukat, said all those responsible for the disappearance of the presiding officers should be punished. He said it was difficult to understand the grounds on which the ECP had rejected the report by the IGP Punjab. He argued that the ECP’s position that people were unable to cast votes was incorrect.

Instead of remaining neutral, the commission was hiding facts, he claimed. He said those responsible for the disappearance should come forward, it was necessary to investigate the officers, which was not done.

Justice Bandial said whoever was responsible for disappearance of the presiding officers had “delivered a shock to the election process”. Re-polling could take place if the results were disputed, he added.

The court after hearing arguments by all the sides dismissed the PTI candidate’s petition. Speaking to media outside the apex court after the judgment, PTI candidate Ali Asjad Malhi said the party respected the apex court’s decision in the matter. The party would deliberate upon filing a review petition after the detailed judgment was released, he added. He expressed confidence about beating the PML-N candidate Nousheen Iftikhar in re-polling. The PML-N candidate termed the court’s ruling “a victory for Pakistan”. She thanked the people of the area for showing their support to her. “This is also our party’s victory which propagates for respect of vote.”

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, meanwhile, tweeted that it was once again proved that “Imran Khan and his fake government” had “robbed the people of Daska of their votes”. “Re-election alone will not work. These perpetrators will have to answer for the crime of stealing votes and kidnapping the staff of the Election Commission,” she said.

“Congratulations to all the lions of PML-N who not only fought against the gang of vote thieves but also guarded their votes. Well done Daska Valve, well done! Well done Nousheen Iftikhar!,” she added.