The Election Tribunal, presided over by Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC, rendered a decision regarding a petition submitted by Muhammad Atif, an independent candidate endorsed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The petitioner contended that, with a lead of more than 3500 votes, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared him the winner of the general election from PP-133.
The independent candidate supported by the PTI contended that the ECP had “illegally ordered a re-count in which PML-N’s Rana Arshad was declared the winner with a lead of more than 2500 votes.”
He asked the Election Tribunal to deem void the ECP’s announcement of Rana Arshad’s win. The Election Tribunal dismissed the PML-N candidate’s victory in the Punjab Assembly constituency while acknowledging the plea.
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The Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier on Tuesday mandated that the votes in the PP-269 Muzaffargarh constituency be recounted by May 17.
Muhammad Iqbal, an independent candidate, filed a plea with the IHC bench, which is made up by Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz. He claimed that he had won the seat in accordance with Forms 45 of the constituency.
According to Form 47, the petitioner claimed to have received 33,052 votes, placing him in second place, behind Mian Alamdar Abbas of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who received 34,588 votes.
The petitioner stated, “My recounting request was approved by the ECP; however, PPP’s Mian Alamdar Abbas resigned on March 20 to avoid re-counting.”
The IHC accepted the plea and ordered a re-count of votes before May 17.
However, the court ruled that if the results remain the same, by-election should be held in the constituency.