The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday accepted PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail’s request for a recount in the NA-249 by-poll and directed all the political parties to reach the office of the returning officer at 9:00 am on May 6 where the recounting would be held. The recounting would be conducted for all the polling stations in the constituency. Ismail had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, seeking a vote recount in NA-249 after he lost the poll by 683 votes in April 29 election. The PML-N had also requested the ECP to conduct a forensic audit of the votes in the NA-249 constituency. During Tuesday’s hearing, Ismail’s lawyer, Sultan Akram Raja, contended that the signatures of presiding officers of 167 polling stations were missing from Form-45 while the party’s polling agents were also not given Form-46. He argued that Form-46 was just as important as Form-45 according to the Justice Nasirul Mulk Commission’s report. “Presiding officers are bound to provide Form-45 and Form-46 to polling agents. Signatures were absent from the Form-45 given by the presiding officers,” he said, and asked the ECP to investigate “irregularities” in the April 29 by-election. Raja said the PML-N would submit a separate application for re-polling in the NA-249 constituency. “Recounting of votes in the NA-249 by-election is our first demand. If we are not satisfied, then we can also make further demands,” he said. He argued that actions taken in 180 polling stations after the voting had ended were not in accordance with the law, stressing that recounting was not enough and the ECP would have to intervene. “The absence of verified Form-45 and Form-46 has made the entire election suspicious.” PPP lawyer Lateef Khosa argued that the PML-N did not raise any objection on any form during the polling on April 29. “It is not enough to say there were irregularities. It needs to be identified where and what irregularities occurred,” he said. Returning officers were not bound to accept applications for recounting, he claimed. ECP member from Punjab Altaf Qureshi observed that the case was against the RO’s orders and not about polling stations to which Khosa replied that Ismail had submitted a ‘general’ application to the RO. “There is a tradition of not accepting defeat in our country,” he said. “It seems Miftah Ismail had already prepared an application which stated that the manner in which the results were announced was suspicious,” he added. A representative for the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) – which came third in the by-election – also appeared in front of the ECP during the hearing. He informed the Commission that polling agents of the party were “thrown out” of the polling stations and presented a ballot paper which he claimed had been found in the street. Lawyer for the PTI – which came in at fifth place – said that polling agents were not given more than 70 Form-45. “It is possible that your polling agents did not sign Form-45?” the ECP member from Sindh questioned. To this, the PTI lawyer replied that it was not possible that more than 70 people did not sign the form. “Not even one Form-45 was given to polling agents,” he argued. Reacting to the decision of the ECP, PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said he was “happy to learn” that Ismail’s application was accepted. “The narrow difference in votes of the top contestants necessitated this in the interest of transparency. Credibility of vote is a sure foundation of democracy,” he tweeted. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said his party welcomes the ECP’s decision to order a recounting of votes cast in Karachi’s NA-249 by-election. “PPP welcomes new precedent set by allowing [constituency] wide recount without specific [polling station] complaints,” he said. “Many seats from 2018 fall within 5% threshold and candidates have not been given this chance. Once ECP order is out, PPP will consider going to ECP for recounts in all such seats,” he added. Responding to Bilawal’s “kind suggestion” of considering to move ECP for a recount of votes where it lost by a small margin, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz thanked PPP. “Asking ECP for a recount on 2018 seats will be a windfall for PMLN because PMLN will be the beneficiary now as it was the prime victim of DHANDLI (rigging) then,” she said. “Will enable PMLN to win all it seats it lost to dhandli by a margin of few hundred votes. Thank u PPP for the kind suggestion,” she added. news desk