Election tribunals are likely to dispose of all election petitions before December and this will help decide the fate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf allegations of massive rigging in the 2013 polls. An official of the Election Commission told Business Recorder that the tribunals are currently pursuing 61 petitions including the four about infamous constituencies pointed out by the PTI leadership.
"The ECP has got nothing to do with election petitions as it is the sole prerogative of the tribunals to hand out their verdict on cases pending before them," he said. He, however, said the ECP has directed all the tribunals to dispose off all the cases before their term expires in December. "The four constituencies pointed out by Imran Khan are under scrutiny of the tribunals but no final verdict has yet been given on any of them," he said.
Alluding to pressure from the PTI, he said the ECP is not mandated to speed up scrutiny of certain constituencies but acknowledged that it has directed a session judge in Lahore to examine election material in NA-122. National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq defeated PTI chairman Imran Khan in NA-122 from Lahore in the 2013 general elections. This is one of the constituencies where the PTI has demanded a vote audit as it believes polling bags and ballot papers went missing in the constituency.
The ECP has directed an additional district and sessions' court in Lahore to verify votes cast in the NA-122 constituency. Other constituencies where Imran Khan has demanded a vote audit include NA-125 Lahore, NA-110 Sialkot and NA-154 Lodhran. PTI senior member and Supreme Court Advocate Hamid Khan alleged that the government has been pressurising judges of the tribunals to get verdicts in their favour.
"Retired judges are heads of the tribunals and majority of them can not sustain government pressure," he said, adding that the government is employing delaying tactics to evade final verdicts in the disputed constituencies. Hamid Khan was a PTI candidate in NA-125 and was defeated by PML-N Khawaja Saad Rafique. Khan said that he was hopeful for a final verdict on his election petition in the next couple of weeks but as for NA-122 and NA-110, Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Asif are still hiding behind a stay order from Lahore High Court.
Former Secretary Election Commission Kanwar Dilshad suggested the election reforms committee should legislate that no candidate can get a stay order on a petition being entertained by a tribunal. "In majority of the cases, candidates have obtained stay orders from respective high courts; so the issue keeps lingering," he said, adding the ECP should direct the tribunals to expedite the process. PTI has announced it would demonstrate on daily basis in front of the ECP office to press for early vote audit in the four constituencies identified by Imran Khan.
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