The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday cancelled the membership of PML-N MPA, Irfanullah Marwat, of the Sindh Assembly.
The ECP has ordered re-election on PS-114 constituency. The date for the re-election will be announced soon.
On July 25, 2014, the election tribunal in Karachi had declared the election in PS-114 void.
Headed by former judge of the Sindh High Court Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani, the tribunal ruled that election in the constituency was required to be declared void as a whole as “the result of the elections has been materially affected within the ambit of Section 70(b) of the Peoples Representative Act”.
The tribunal’s order came on the petition of MQM leader Abdul Rauf Siddiqui who challenged the victory of Marwat for allegedly committing massive rigging in the polling.
Sherwani had concluded in the judgment: “I have considered the above arguments in the light of record and the case law as relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner and reached the conclusion that since the petitioner has proved the prevalence of extensive corrupt and illegal practices during the election at six polling stations – 85 to 90 – in the constituency where 6,867 votes were polled and the report of Nadra shows that 3,270 counterfoils of the used ballots papers of all the 92 polling stations including 74 of these six polling stations were such on which thumb impressions failed authentication and since the retuned candidate’s margin of lead is only 6,825 votes less much than the total of these two (votes polled over these six polling stations and the invalid votes in respect of 3,270 counterfoils that failed authentication), therefore as per ratio laid down in Annda Bachar, Supra, the result of the election has been materially affected within the ambit of Section 70 (B) of the Act, consequently, the election in the constituency is required to be decreed as a whole void.”
