By-elections: ECP turns down PTI’s request to recount votes in PP-7

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s plea to recount votes in PP-7 (Kahuta, Rawalpindi) and upheld the original results of the district during by-elections that took place on Sunday.

A five-member bench of ECP announced the verdict and chief election commissioner claimed that he saw no evidence of rigging in the by-polls.

Therefore, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Sagheer Ahmed was successful against PTI’s Shabbir Awan in PP-7.

According to Aaj News, Shabbir Awan’s lawyer alleged that the Results Transmission System (RTS) of the ECP crashed as soon as results of PP-7 started pouring.

Prior to the crash, Awan had a lead, however, once the system came back online, Ahmed emerged victorious. Subsequently, Shabbir Awan lodged the request for recounting of votes in 21 polling stations.

Addressing the allegations, chief election commissioner stated that RTS system was not used in the by-elections. “Instead, the ECP’s Result Management System was used,” he said.

PP-7 Kahuta (Rawalpindi): ECP defers decision about recounting of votes

Speaking to media after the release of the verdict, PTI leader Sadaqat Abbasi termed the ECP biased against PTI and stated that all requests of the part are rejected. He also announced to challenge the verdict in the high court.

“The Election Commission of Pakistan is biased against PTI and it does not want us to win. The RO also rejected our request,” he said. Abbasi highlighting that PML-N’s candidate won the by-polls by just 49 votes.

Citing that law was turning into a joke, he announced to hold a press conference to explain each and every evidence of rigging in by-elections at PP-7.

In the by-elections on Sunday, Sagheer bagged 68,906 votes compared to Awan’s 68,857 votes. The election results issued by the ECP revealed that Awan was leading by 293 votes when the result of 265 out of 266 polling stations of PP-7 had arrived. But he lost by 49 votes when the final result of all 266 polling stations was issued.

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 The PTI alleged foul play in the by-poll and claimed that its candidate was leading by up to 4,000 votes at one point when the results were stopped for more than three hours.

The ECP denied this allegation saying there was no fault in RMS and that delay in the transmission of results was linked to the fact that polling stations in Kahuta were mainly located in far-flung hilly areas.