ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday suspended the victory notification of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Ali Hassan Zehri and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide the applications for recounting of votes in PB-21 Hub at 39 polling stations afresh either way.
Zehri, who was Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Cooperative in Balochistan, had tendered his resignation from the provincial cabinet late Tuesday night with immediate effect, ahead of the FCC verdict.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, announced the verdict on a petition filed by Muhammad Saleh Bhotani against the Balochistan High Court (BHC) judgment dated December 20, 2024.
The FCC set aside the BHC verdict dated December 20, 2024, as well as the ECP order dated December 16, 2024, and directed the Commission to decide the applications for recounting the votes in PB-21 Hub at 39 polling stations afresh either way.
The ECP had declared Zehri as the returned candidate for PB-21 Hub, Balochistan. The BHC had dismissed Bhotani’s petition in limine, stating that the petitioner’s remedy lay through an appeal before this Court (FCC) under Section 9(5) of the Elections Act, 2017.
According to Form 47 of the provisional consolidated statement of results, issued on April 9, 2024, the total valid votes cast were recorded as 70,328, while the votes rejected/excluded from the count totalled 17,155. Zehri was shown to have secured 23,974 votes and was declared a returned candidate.
Rind was shown the runner up and secured 17,441 votes, while the petitioner was declared third securing only 17, 403 votes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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