Accepting Imran Khan’s request, an election tribunal on Wednesday ruled that votes polled in NA-122, PP-147 constituencies should be verified through thumb impressions.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq defeated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan from NA-122 in the May 2013 general elections.
The election tribunal said the votes would be verified through thumb impressions using data provided by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). The decision came following the hearing of an application filed by the PTI, seeking verification of thumb impressions on ballot counterfoils using NADRA’s data.
The election tribunal also accepted PTI candidate Shoaib Siddiqui’s request and directed NADRA to verify PP-147 as well and present a report within 30 days.
Imran Khan’s counsel in his application had said some of the ballot papers issued to several polling stations were dubious. He said for some polling stations packing invoices were issued twice and serial numbers on the invoices did not match those on Form 15. However, Sadiq’s counsel submitted that the PTI was using delay tactics.
On December 8, 2014, the election tribunal approved Khan’s petition for hearing and constituted a commission to probe into the alleged rigging of NA-122 where Ayaz Sadiq bagged 93,389 and Imran Khan 84,517 votes.
A petition was moved before the tribunal by the PTI chief in July 2013, alleging massive rigging in the constituency. The total number of votes polled in NA-122 were 184,151 while in PP-147, these are 74,251 and 109,802 in PP-148.
Earlier, an audit report of the NA-122 constituency revealed 519 discrepancies in the election record, including 23,639 unsigned or unstamped ballot papers and 3,642 invalid ones.
A local commission was appointed by the Election Tribunal to scrutinise the constituency. The tribunal summoned the local commission and counsels for both parties by January 17 for arguments.
Further, on January 24, former sessions judge Ghulam Hussain Awan, who was appointed as head of an inquiry committee formed to probe alleged rigging in 2013′s elections, noted certain irregularities in the NA-122 constituency.
As per Awan’s statement, recorded in front of Election Tribunal Lahore Judge Kazim Malik, counterfoils of 30,000 ballot papers were not signed, and ballot papers of different colours and sizes and ballot boxes with broken seals were included in the report.
