The Lahore High Court (LHC) unseated Minister of State Saima Akhtar Bharwana and directed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to hold fresh election in NA-90 Jhang constituency. The court passed these orders in a petition filed by PML candidate Sultan Nazir for recounting of votes.
The petitioner contended that the respondent was declared successful with margin of 467 votes only. He said that during the process of counting 2910 votes were rejected and he had requested the returning officer for recounting, but he refused to conduct recounting of the votes.
The court called the record and arranged recounting of the votes. The court also called the returning officer and asked him to explain his position. The returning officer admitted that he had not examined the rejected votes and had also found a bag missing while two bags were found opened.
The court, accepting the petition, observed that the returning officer did not perform his duty in accordance with the law, and directed the CEC to hold fresh election in the constituency NA-90.