Announcing a six-page verdict in response to a plea, challenging election regulator decision about Local Government re-poll in two polling stations of TMC-II Sukkur the Islamabad High Court granted stay order. The court remanded the case to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to dispense complete justice in the matter.
Earlier, Advocate Umer Ijaz Gillani appeared before a single-member bench of the IHC comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb in the matter saying his clients Ghulam Yaseen and Dawa Khan contested local bodies election for the slots of Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively from Union Council No.10, Jeay Shah (TMC-II) Sukkur on June 06,2022.
He further informed the bench that concerned Returning Officer (RO) declared both the candidates successful in accordance with the provisional result. However, the runner up candidates Shafique Ahmed and Muhammad Ayub Khan filed an application for recounting of the election results before the RO secretively saying the RO allowed the application and conducted recount of the votes which resulted in a change in the number of votes. The petitioners alleged that in result of recounting of the votes runner up candidates were declared successful in the election result.
Challenging the RO decision before the ECP both the petitioners Ghulam Yaseen and Dawa Khan urged the Commission to repair their loss. In response to their application the ECP summoned the concerned Presiding Officer who disclosed saying that he had been pressurized to put his signature on a statement that he had made a wrong calculation. The Presiding Officer also submitted before the ECP that his statement in the matter was obtained through coercion.
Counsel for the returned candidates Shafique Ahmed and Muhammad Ayub Khan contended before the ECP saying that all the legal formalities were fulfilled in recounting process for the seats.
Advocate Gillani claimed before the bench that after hearing both the parties in the case, the ECP has fully admitted the fraudulent acts committed by the RO and even imposed a lifetime electoral ban on him. He argued instead of restoring the provisional election results, the ECP has ordered re-polling in the vicinity saying this effectively amounts to punishing the petitioners for misdeeds of the respondents.
Challenging the ECP order before the IHC , Advocate Umer Ijaz Gillani argued that mere statement of the Presiding Officer before the ECP that his statement was obtained through coercion in the matter provides sufficient ground to annul the recount process. He urged the IHC to restore the provisional election results in favor of Ghulam Yaseen and Dawa Khan instead of re-polling in two poling stations of the Union Council No.10, Jeay Shah (TMC-II) Sukkur.
After hearing arguments in the matter, the IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb said in its order, “it is my view that the impugned order dated 22.08.2022 to the extent of ordering a re[1]poll at the two polling stations is not sustainable. Consequently, the instant petition is partly allowed; the impugned order dated 22.08.2022 passed by the ECP to the extent of directing re-poll to be conducted at the two polling stations i.e. Polling Station No.1 (GBHS New Pind of Ward No.1) and Polling Station No.2 (Sir Syed Elementary School, Pathan Colony of Ward No.2) is set-aside; and the matter is remanded to the ECP for a decision afresh bearing the mandate in Section 9(1) of the 2017 Act”.
