PTI challenges ECP’s decision of NA-75 re-polling in SC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision of re-polling in NA-75 Daska in the Supreme Court. PTI candidate Ali Asjad Malhi has made his opponent Nosheen Iftikhar party in the petition along with others and maintained that the ECP did not follow the rules and regulations while issuing the order of re-election in the entire constituency. Ali Asjad Malhi said the ECP verdict violates Article 10-A and requested the apex court to issue results of the by-election after nullifying the ECP decision. The ECP on Thursday last had declared the by-election for a National Assembly (NA) seat in a Sialkot constituency as null and void and had ordered the government to hold re-election on March 18. The commission had stopped the initial results of the NA-75 (Sialkot-IV) by-election — a seat in Daska Tehsil of the city which fell vacant after the demise of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP Sahibazada Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah in August — a day after polling was held, suspecting vote fraud. In a press statement, the ECP had said it had suspected that the results of 20 polling stations in the constituency had been falsified because it received the results of the constituency with “unnecessary delay”. A short verdict, announced on an application of PML-N candidate Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, had ordered re-election in the constituency because “conducive environment was not available for the candidates and voters and the election had not been conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in a transparent manner.” “On the day of the election, chaos was spread in the entire constituency,” it had read. The order was issued using the powers conferred on the ECP under Article 218 (3) of the Constitution and Article 19 (1) of the Election Act, 2017. The government at the time had said that it would wait for the detailed order and to decide its future course of action. The PML-N has been the loudest proponent of the rigging allegations within the constituency. Party Vice President Maryam had alleged claims of interference in the NA-75 Daska by-polls and had accused the ruling party and agencies of being involved in the so-called conspiracy. “Agencies, which come under Imran Khan, the vote thief, were involved [in the rigging],” she had claimed while speaking to media persons in Lahore on Wednesday last. The PML-N VP had warned that she would “expose the names” if the government does not come clean. On February 23, she had taken to Twitter and had claimed that she had the names of two people, adding that the staff of the ECP had been abducted and kept in one place all night. Since the elections occurred, Maryam Nawaz has been untiring in her pursuit of a recount, and had issued multiple videos on Twitter that purportedly showed the closure of polling stations “by design”. She had claimed that some stations were purposefully closed for nearly six hours. “When [they saw] that despite this historic, blatant and naked rigging, PML-N was still in the lead, they kidnapped 20 officials in the garb of fog,” she had said. “This is not me saying this, Election Commission’s press release is also saying it. It said that when they returned, results were altered.” She had insisted that a re-poll in only 20 stations was not enough when the election of Daska in its entirety was stolen. The PML-N VP had also urged the Election Commission to ensure that action is taken against the officials who were allegedly involved in rigging. When asked a question about the open ballot ordinance during last week’s presser, she had replied that the opposition had taken a principled stance against the matter. “We received phone calls saying ‘please sit with Imran Khan and pass this legislation’ but we said no, we won’t give him any relief,” she had told reporters. “If you [PM Imran] drag the Supreme Court into this and make it a party in this dirty political game, we will expose you,” she had warned, adding that if the SC chooses to offer any relief to the premier, it would be considered biased. Now, the PTI has officially stated that it will take the matter to the SC. The PML-N VP has not responded to the development as of the time of filing.