Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to pick up the third wicket of its rival political party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as the Supreme Court decided an election matter, upholding the verdict of the election tribunal.

The top court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by PTI leader Usman Dar, seeking disqualification of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif from Sialkot’s constituency NA-110.

The NA-110 (Sialkot) constituency was one of the four constituencies for which the PTI had staged a countrywide sit-in for four months and sought vote audit and reelection through election petitions. The other constituencies were NA-125 (Lahore), NA-122 (Lahore) and NA-154 (Lodhran).

Khawaja Asif had won the NA-110 seat with 92,803 votes in the general election, while the runner-up candidate, Usman Dar, of the PTI had bagged 71,525 votes.

Soon after the top court announced the dismissal of the PTI’s appeal, the defence minister took a sigh of relief and tweeted, “I am humbled… Supreme Court has endorsed the will of people of Sialkot.”

The SC in its order ruled that the reasons for rejection of the appeal would be recorded later.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, resumed the hearing of NA-110 election matter on Thursday. Farooq H Naek, counsel for Khawaja Asif, argued that no concrete evidence were produced and the returning officer concerned was not examined by the court. He said that even the medical report of any person, if injured during the course of the election, or the individual himself, was not produced.

“The overall election was not affected in the light of four reports from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and two reports of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP),” he argued.

CJP Anwar Zaheer Jamali observed that protection of election material was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan, adding that the winning candidate could not be held responsible if the election record was damaged or destroyed.

Naek told the bench that he was a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Election Reforms in Senate, and steps pertaining to reforms were being taken.

However, the CJP observed that the parliamentary committee had done nothing to resolve the issues related to elections despite the passage of a year, adding that it only summons meeting.

Naek informed the bench that if the votes, on which the appellant had raised objections, were separated from those polled in favour of the winning candidate, even then Khawaja Asif secured victory.