LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday suspended a notice of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued on an application for recounting in constituency-NA-133, Kasur.

The court passed this order on a petition filed by the SIC MPA and sought replies from the respondents within fortnight.

The petitioner through his counsel argued that his client Dr Azeemuddin Zahid Lakhvi was declared successful as a PTI-backed independent candidate from NA-133 in the February 8 election. He said the petitioner defeated runner-up candidate Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan of PML-N, with a margin of 10757 votes and later joined the SIC.

The counsel stated that the ECP constituted appellate tribunals to hear the election petitions against the victory of the returned candidates.

He argued that applications for recounting of votes cannot be filed after the constitutions of the appellate tribunals, however, the ECP ‘unlawfully’ entertained one such plea by the defeated candidate in the petitioner’s constituency.

He said the ECP also issued a notice to the petitioner requiring his appearance.

He asked the court to set aside the impugned notice for being unlawful.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024