ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reserved its verdict in the case seeking a vote recount in the National Assembly’s constituency NA-18 Haripur that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House of Parliament Omar Ayub Khan won with a wide margin in the last year’s general elections.
In the final hearing of this case on Wednesday, an ECP bench questioned the petitioner side for filing this petition after the expiry of the stipulated time.
“Can you give a single example of a case that is time-barred, not moved in an election tribunal, election result not nullified by the ECP — but still this case lands here — is there a single precedent?” asked ECP bench member Babar Hassan Bharwana.
The counsel for Babar Nawaz Khan, the petitioner, responded that they did not receive any notice by the returning officer regarding result consolidation of NA-18 after the election.
“We don’t want nullification of the NA-18 result. We only want recounting of the votes in this constituency,” he said.
The bench reserved its verdict in the case, expected to be announced in the coming days.
Babar, a member of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), has moved the ECP regarding alleged rigging in NA-18, the seat Omar won in last year general elections. Omar outrivalled Babar with a margin of over 80,000 votes.
Notably, the PML-N member moved the petition related to NA-18 in the ECP after the expiry of the 90-day stipulated deadline. Yet, the ECP admitted this petition and initiated the proceedings.
In addition to that, the hearing of reference against the NA opposition leader, seeking his disqualification from NA over alleged financial corruption and alleged misrepresentation of related facts in the electoral documents, is also pending in the ECP. Its next hearing is scheduled on the 15th of this month.
The reference is sent to the ECP by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq under the relevant laws.
Apart from the NA opposition leader, cases against his two cousins and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders; Akbar Ayub Khan and Arshad Ayub Khan, both of whom are members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, are pending in the ECP allegedly out of politically motivated reasons. The related petitions involving PK-46 Haripur and KP-47 Haripur, allege irregularities in the respective constituencies in last year’s general polls.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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