SC hears NA 125 case
Justice Azmat asked in remarks why were only 10 polling stations audited forensically
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Supreme Court on Wednesday heard Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique’s appeal over NA 125 case and asked whether Election Tribunals are deciding based on assumptions, Dunya News reported.
Hearing the case, Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali asked in his remarks whether the Election Tribunals was deciding based on assumptions. He asked how can irregularities in polling be termed rigging when Hamid Khan was winning in results from urban area while Saad Rafique won mostly from rural areas of the constituency.
According to details, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court presided over by the Chief Justice heard the case. Hamid Khan’s lawyer Ahmed Awais said in his arguments that rigging on a large scale took place in NA 125 constituency.
He said the Election Tribunal nullified the result over corruption, alleging that Rafique’s trusted people were deployed as election staff.
Justice Qazi Faiz Isa said that election staff was changed on request of PTI’s candidate. Justice Azmat Saeed said it was the candidate himself who petitioned for change of staff.
Hamid Khan’s attorney said in his arguments that both candidates’ votes are equal if votes of disputed Form 14 are put aside. Justice Azmat responded by saying that the votes are still not equal and that Saad Rafique still wins even if the disputed votes are subtracted.
Justice Isa said the court had given the option of re-count but was rejected by the PTI candidate. Saad Rafique’s attorney Khawaja Haris said in his arguments that his client wins even if all the allegations of the opposite side are accepted. He said Saad Rafique was victorious by a margin of 39 thousand votes.
Hamid Khan’s lawyer said that Hamid Khan had a lead of 7000 votes when the Result Management System of Election Commission was running, claiming that the result was changed when the system stopped working.
He alleged that the Returning Officers (ROs) did not check rejected votes. Justice Azmat Saeed said in his remarks that the result of NA 125 election does not seem to be affected practically. Justice Isa asked if the victorious candidate can be punished for deeds of others.
Would the winning candidate be punished if RO didn’t check the rejected voted? He asked.
Hamid Khan’s lawyer said such Forms 14 were also discovered that did not have any signatures and thumb impressions. He said the Forms 14 of as many as 31 polling stations did not have signatures and that irregularities on a large number were committed while filling the Form 14.
Justice Azmat asked in remarks why were only 10 polling stations audited forensically.
The Chief Justice asked whether the rigging took place before or after the polling. Hamid Khan’s lawyer will be given half an hour to present arguments in the next hearing. The hearing was adjourned until Thursday.
