ECP rejects PTI recount plea in PP-7

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s plea for recount of votes in PP-7 Rawalpindi-II, having lost it to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz by a narrow margin of 49 votes.

The ECP decision came on the eve of re-election for Punjab chief minister. In a related development, the ECP also notified the victory of 19 members of the Punjab Assembly, who returned in the crucial by-polls conducted on July 17.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, who headed the bench that heard the case, read out the brief order and said that the petitioner, PTI candidate Shabbir Awan, could neither prove any fraud nor irregularity during the by-poll. He was also not able to state the reasons for the need for recount.

Shabbir Awan and PMLN candidate Raja Sagheer Ahmed appeared before the bench along with their counsel. The PTI candidate was represented by former additional advocate general, Punjab, Shaukat Rauf Siddiqui and Barrister Raja Jibran Tariq Ali while the PMLN candidate was represented by advocate Sardar Taimoor Aslam.

At the outset of proceedings, CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja took the PTI candidate to task for his claim before the Lahore High Court that his application seeking recount was not being entertained by the ECP, observing that the PTI had not filed any application until 5pm on Wednesday. He maintained: “You submitted a request to the R&I Department but withdrew it after 10 minutes and filed the petition after the high court judgment.” He then called the officials of the R&I branch and asked them to submit a written account of everything that happened, saying that things should be clear.

In response, Awan’s counsel said his client was present in the court on the orders of LHC. The CEC questioned the PTI candidate over his claim about the breakdown of the Result Transmission System (RTS), pointing out that the RTS had not been used in the by-polls. Awan’s counsel said they had approached the court as the margin between the votes of the two parties was very thin. “Our law states that if the margin is less than five per cent, a request for a recount can be filed. As soon as the results were announced, my client had immediately approached the RO and later the court for a recount,” he explained.

On the contrary, Raja Sagheer’s lawyer called the PTI request baseless, saying that they failed to prove their point even in front of the RO. Initially, they were talking about the entire constituency. Now they are talking about 21 polling stations. The PTI stance was invalid because it kept changing.

Awan, in his petition filed with the ECP, claimed that votes of deceased individuals had been polled in the constituency. The petition listed alleged irregularities at the 21 polling stations where it seeks recount. It alleged that the number of votes polled at two polling stations was greater than the number of votes polled. On the other 19 polling stations, it alleged different irregularities including illegal issuance of ballot papers, forgery of Form 45, stamping of ballot papers by PMLN polling agents in connivance with the polling staff and double stamping to render PTI votes invalid.

It claimed that the result of PP-7 had been delayed though all the presiding officers had reached the RO office in time and the result was announced at 1:40am on 18-07-2022, whereas the results for other constituencies were announced well before 8:00pm on 17-07-2022 that also raised questions on the counting of votes in the constituency.

The petitioner claimed when the results of 265 out of 266 polling stations were uploaded on the RTS, he was in the lead of 312 votes and ultimately was shown to be a loser when the delayed result of the last polling station came.

Meanwhile, the PTI, through its official Twitter account, said the ECP order was not only against the law but amounted to undermining the election process in a huge way. The tweet referred to accusations of bias levelled against the chief election commissioner by PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

PTI Senior Vice President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the ECP decision was disappointing but not surprising. “If we look at things beyond the ambit of the Constitution and law and regulations, similar decisions come. There is a long list of ECP decisions which have been nullified by high courts,” he contended. The commission, he noted, had also looked into the matter, not taking into account the directions of the high court. He said the CEC was advised to announce his joining of the PMLN, setting aside all formalities.

PTI leader Shafqat Mahmood also took to Twitter, calling the verdict against the law. “Loss of neutrality and integrity by the ECP has far-reaching consequences for democracy,” he warned.