ECP accepts Miftah Ismail's plea, orders recount in NA-249 by-poll

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday accepted PML-N leader Miftah Ismail's application for a recount in the NA-249 Karachi by-election, ordering that recounting of the votes be done on May 6.

It directed leaders of political parties who had contested the byelection to reach the office of the returning officer (RO) at 9am on May 6 (Thursday) for the recount. The ECP reserved its verdict on the application earlier Tuesday. Reacting to the decision, PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said he was "happy to learn" that Ismail's application was accepted.

"The narrow difference in votes of the top contestants necessitated this in the interest of transparency. Credibility of vote is a sure foundation of democracy," he tweeted. During hearing, Ismail's lawyer, Sultan Akram Raja, contended that the signatures of presiding officers of 167 polling stations were missing from Form-45 while the party's polling agents were also not given Form-46.

He argued that Form-46 was just as important as Form-45 according to the Justice Nasirul Mulk Commission's report. "Presiding officers are bound to provide Form-45 and Form-46 to polling agents. Signatures were absent from the Form-45 given by the presiding officers."

He also asked the ECP investigate "irregularities" in

to the

April 29 by-election. Raja said the PML-N would submit a separate application for re-polling in the NA-249 constituency. "Recounting of votes in the NA-249 by-election is our first demand. If we are not satisfied, then we can also make further demands."

He argued that actions taken in 180 polling stations after the voting had ended were not in accordance with the law, stressing that recounting was not enough and the ECP would have to "intervene"."The absence of verified Form-45 and Form-46 has made the entire election suspicious."

PPP lawyer Lateef Khosa argued that the PML-N did not raise any objection on any form during the polling on April 29. "It is not enough to say there were irregularities. It needs to be identified where and what irregularities occurred," he said.

Returning officers were not bound to accept applications for recounting, he claimed. The ECP member from Punjab, Altaf Qureshi, observed that the case was against the RO's orders and not about polling stations to which Khosa replied that Ismail had submitted a "general" application to the RO.

"There is a tradition of not accepting defeat in our country," he added. "It seems Miftah Ismail had already prepared an application which stated that the manner in which the results were announced was suspicious." He further said that it was the RO's job to release the results, questioning whether he was waiting for a stay order from the ECP.