Once More, Courts Will Bear The Burden of Election Result

The courts in Pakistan have been bearing the burden of the election results since the last month and after the election of the Senate chairman, they would likely be getting another task to deal with.

After the election of Senate top slots in which Sadiq Sanjrani has been re-elected as the Senate chairman after defeating Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani, the opposition alliance has announced to go in the high court or Supreme Court (SC) against the outcome.

Of the total 98 votes cast, Sadiq Sanjrani secured all 48 votes of the alliance while his opponent bagged only 42 despite having 52 votes in the tally. The thin margin got wider as eight votes were rejected.

This is not the first instance in recent times when the courts will be adjudicating election results.

It started from Daska NA-75 when Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against rigging incidents.

The commission declared election in the constituency void and ordered re-polling.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate, Ali Asjad Malhi, approached the Supreme Court (SC) against ECP’s order and pleaded to conduct re-election only in 20 constituencies where rigging incidents surfaced instead of whole.

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However, the apex court turned down the petition of PTI’s candidate.

In another event, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani won Islamabad’s crucial seat in the Senate election despite the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was ahead in numbers.

Right before the polling day, a controversial video had emerged on the internet where Gillani’s son, Haider Gillani, was guiding PTI candidates on how to waste votes.

اللّٰہ الحق ہے۔ وزیرِاعظم عمران خان پر ووٹ چوری کا الزام لگانے والے آج خود ووٹ پر ڈاکا ڈالتے ہوۓ سامنے آگۓ۔ #ہار_چور_ووٹ_چور pic.twitter.com/CllT7dGbOA

— PTI (@PTIofficial) March 2, 2021

After Gillani won the seat in the upper house, PTI’s MNA Ali Nawaz Awaan reached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to cancel notification of Gillani’s victory as a senator.

But, the court declined the appeal and said the matter was ECP’s domain.

Faisal Vawda’s case

PTI’s Faisal Vawda skipped disqualification as he resigned as an MNA after becoming a senator.

A case for his ineligibility was underway in IHC. But, as soon as he resigned as an MNA after securing a seat in the upper house on March 3, the high court dismissed the case.

Confident Vawda then approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) to halt proceedings of disqualification against him in the ECP but to no avail as the high court rejected Vawda’s plea.