LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday dismissed the petitions against the victory of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from NA-130, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif from PP-164 and former Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz from PP-147 and asked the petitioners to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The court observed that the constitutional petitions were not maintainable before the high court without availing the first remedy under the law.
The other day, the court had also dismissed a set of petitions against Maryam Nawaz, Awn Chaudhry, Khawaja Asif, Aleem Khan and others.
The court ruled that the petitioners should file a representation before the ECP prior to invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the high court.
PTI-Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid, who lost election from NA-130, challenged the victory of Nawaz.
Her counsel argued that as per the record of Form 45 respondent Nawaz Sharif lost the election, whereas, the returning officer (RO) declared his victory on the basis of alleged manipulated Form 47.
He asked the court to set aside the result announced by the ECP on the basis of Form 47 and order it to hold a recounting of votes.
PTI-supported independent candidates Yousaf Mayo and Muhammad Madni assailed the victories of Shehbaz from PP-164 and Hamza from PP-147, respectively.
They contended that the law required the RO to consolidate the final results in the presence of all candidates. However, they said, the ROs expelled them from polling stations and did not allow them to witness the compilation of the results.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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