The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended victory notifications of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidates from the three National Assembly constituencies of Islamabad including of NA-46, NA-47, and NA-48.
The notifications were suspended by two-member bench comprising Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir.
The bench took the decision while hearing the separate intra-court appeals of independent candidates Shoaib Shaheen, Aamer Mughal and Ali Bokhari Advocate.
According to the notifications issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), PML-N candidates Anjum Aqeel won from NA-46, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry from NA-47 and Raja Khuram Shehzad from NA-48 Islamabad.
During the proceeding, Shoaib Shaheen Advocate said that he had received all the Forms-45 of 380 polling stations on the election night and approached the returning officer to point out the irregularity. Form-47 was not issued till 1 a.m. and his workers staged a sit-in in protest, he added.
The lawyer said that he filed applications before the returning officer and the district returning officer, but the ECP barred the RO from issuing the Form 47 and also sought a report within three days, which had not been filed as yet.
Shoaib Shaheen said that the RO was supposed to prepare the Form-47 in the presence of all candidates. However, the ECP later issued the notification declaring Tariq Fazal Chaudhry winner without consolidation of the results.
Aamir Mughal’s lawyer claimed that there were 343 polling stations in his client’s constituency and as per the results he was leading.
The petitioners prayed the court to issue directives to the ECP for withdrawal of the victory notifications of the three PML-N candidates in aforesaid constituencies as their complaints were already pending with the electoral body.
