ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday once again rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) plea seeking suspension of Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision regarding re-polling in NA-75 Daska.
During the proceedings, ECP submitted a report mentioning that on the day of by-polls, the chief election commissioner (CEC) had called chief secretary, IGP numerous times but they did not respond.
PTI’s lawyer, in his argument, stated before the court that his client has no issue with re-polling at 20 polling stations and pleaded with the court to nullify the ECP’s ruling until the hearing of the case in the apex court.
Nothing will change even we nullify the ECP’s orders, remarked Justice Muneeb Akhtar. Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that “we respect the constitutional institutions”. “It is good to go ahead this time,” he added.
Is aerial firing such an issue to order re-poll in the constituency? Justice Bandial asked and added that action can be taken against the police over its failure.
Earlier in the day, the court was told that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Nosheen Iftikhar’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja has contracted coronavirus due to which he would not be able to attend the hearing.
Azam Nazeer further said that if the court desired then Raja could record his arguments via video-link.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the case until next week.
It is worth mentioning here that the ECP ordered re-polling at all polling stations of NA-75 Sialkot-Daska over rigging. Later, the commission rescheduled the NA-75 Daska by-election. According to a notification, the by-polls in the Punjab constituency will now be held on April 10.
