LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday restrained the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from issuing the notification of former foreign minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif’s success.
Asif had won the July 25 polls against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Usman Dar in Sialkot’s NA-73 constituency.
On Monday, LHC Justice Mamoonur Rasheed announced the decision on a petition filed by Usman Dar and issued notices to the election watchdog as well as Asif.
Dar, in his petition, submitted through Advocate Anees Hashmi and Advocate Tajamul Gondal, had challenged the Asif’s victory, pleading that the returning officer did not provide Form-45 to the polling agents.
The PTI leader maintained that as many as 7,346 votes were dismissed in his constituency and he had lost to the PML-N leader by a margin of 1,406 votes.
The petitioner’s counsels asked the court to hold the notification and order the returning officer to hold a complete recounting of ballot papers.
