pThe Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued the notification of victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan from NA-131 Lahore that was earlier withheld due to a case pending in the court.
According to the ECP, the notification was issued in the light of the orders of the Supreme Court.
On August 4, the Lahore High Court had ordered the ECP to withhold Imran Khan’s victory notification from NA-131 constituency. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique, who lost election to the PTI chief, had approached the court arguing that ECP only counted rejected votes over his plea for recounting. During the hearing of the petition, the court had not only ordered the ECP to withhold the PTI chief’s victory notification but also issued directions for a complete vote recount.
The Supreme Court had on Wednesday suspended the Lahore High Court’s order to re-tabulate results of NA-131 constituency, and accepted Imran’s petition against the ruling for hearing.
Imran, with 84,313 votes, had defeated Rafique in closely contested polls in the constituency. The PTI chairman, who is also the prime minister-in-waiting, made history by winning all five National Assembly seats he contested from in the July 25 polls.
Published in Daily Times, August 10th 2018.
