The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended the victory notifications of three Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates of the National Assembly.
A two-member bench of the IHC – comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir – issued the order against PML-N’s Tariq Fazl Chaudhry, Anjum Aqeel, and Raja Khurram Nawaz. Chaudhry had won with 102,502 votes, as per unofficial results from the NA-47 constituency, but his victory was challenged by his rival candidate. Aqeel had secured victory from the NA-46 constituency and bagged 81,958 votes. However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidate Aamir Mughal challenged it.
The court also suspended the notification of the victory of Raja Khurram Islamabad’s NA-48 constituency, which was challenged by the PTI-backed candidate Ali Bukhari. The elections are marred by allegations of rigging and they picked up pace after former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha’s startling revelations about the alleged rigging that took place under his watch. Major political parties have called for an independent and judicial investigation into the allegations, with some already on the streets against the election results.