SC de-seats PML-N Sindh MPA Masroor Ahmad Jatoi
Supreme Court has ordered re-election on PS-23 Naushahro Feroze.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – In another setback to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), the Supreme Court (SC) has de-seated its Sindh lawmaker Masroor Ahmad Jatoi and ordered re-election in PS-23 constituency of Naushahro Feroze district in Sindh.
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Masroor Ahmad Jatoi, who was declared a returned candidate by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on May 22, 2013, obtained 30,674 votes whereas the appellant (runner up) secured 29,063 votes, with the differential between the two being 1,611 votes.
Photo: MPA Masroor Jatoi
A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Saqib Nisar, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Tariq Pervez announced the judgment on a petition filed by PPP leader and runner up candidate Feroze Ahmed Jamali against the judgment (dated 10.1.2014) of the Election Tribunal, Sukkur.
The petitioner adopted the stance that the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) had declared most of the votes cast in the constituency ‘fake’.
The appellant challenged the election results primarily on the grounds that a large number of bogus votes were got cast by the respondent, the election was manipulated and procured by him through coercion and in connivance with the election staff.
He claimed the Returning Officers and the election staff violated the provisions of Sections 33, 38 and 39 of the Act and thus the election has been materially affected which should be declared void.
It may be pertinent to mention here that during the course of the proceedings before the learned Election Tribunal, Sukkur, the appellant had moved an application for the examination and verification of the counterfoils of 19 polling stations with the object to prove that certain votes cast were not as per the mandate of Section 33 and, therefore, such votes be excluded from the count.
Pursuant to the above, the Tribunal sought the verification of the counterfoils of the said polling stations from NADRA and as per its report 2,417 used counterfoils were declared as invalid, which either contained NIC numbers, which were not issued by NADRA or which did not bear any NIC number whatsoever. Further, 61 used counterfoils were held to be without fingerprints or thumb impressions.
In order to controvert the arguments of the learned counsel for the appellant, counsel for the respondent submitted that the NADRA report was only to the extent of verification of thumb impressions of 19 polling stations, and there were no ‘out of constituency’ votes which suggests that there was no bogus voting.
In view of the above, by allowing this appeal and setting aside the impugned judgment, the Supreme Court accepted the election petition filed by Feroze Ahmed Jamali and declared the elections of PS-23, Naushahro Feroze-V as void.
The apex court ordered: “The ECP is required to hold fresh elections in the said constituency in accordance with law.”
In another case, the apex court dismissed disqualification petition against PML (N) leader Daniyal Aziz.
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