ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has once again rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) request to declare the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order of re-polling in the NA-75 Daska by-elections ‘illegal’.
The request was rejected by a three-member bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial. During the proceedings, Justice Bandial noted that the ECP had ordered re-election over code of conduct violations.
He also noted that the ECP took its decision on the basis of a report which stated that 20 presiding officers had gone missing after the polling concluded as well as the violence witnessed in Daska on polling day.
Meanwhile, the PTI lawyer told that the ECP had declared the elections “controversial” on the basis of one DSP’s case, adding that under the Election Act’s Section 9 the ECP should have ordered an inquiry instead.
However, Justice Bandial responded that declaring null and void was an administrative decision and that such decisions need to be taken “immediately”. “There was no reason to declare the order illegal,” he said adding that the bench will deliberate on what to do next in the upcoming hearing.
Last month, the PTI candidate who stood for election in the NA-75 by-poll on February 19, Ali Asjad Malhi, had gone to the Supreme Court to appeal the ECP’s order for fresh elections in the NA-75 Sialkot-IV constituency.
The decision to contest the order was taken after the ECP announced re-polling in the entire constituency after concluding that “the election in the subject constituency has not been conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in a transparent manner”.
