Karachi [Pakistan], February 28 : Three Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidates, including its Sindh president Haleem Adil Sheikh, have filed a petition with the Sindh High Court, urging contempt proceedings against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its alleged failure to address their complaints regarding the provisional results of the February 8 general elections in accordance with a court directive, Dawn reported.
The applicants, citing Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, four ECP members, and the Sindh election commissioner as the alleged contemnors, asserted that the officials had not complied with the SHC order issued on February 13 concerning their election grievances.
According to Dawn, PTI's provincial chief, Sheikh, contested from NA-238 (Karachi East-VI) and claimed that according to Forms-45 obtained by his polling agents, he led by approximately 65,000 votes. However, he alleged that the results were altered at the returning officer's (RO) office, showing him as the runner-up in the contested Form-47/provisional result.
Similarly, two other PTI-backed candidates, Abbas Hasnain and Khalid Mehmood, contested from NA-247 (Karachi Central-I) and NA-231 (Karachi Malir-III), respectively, and asserted discrepancies between Forms-45 and Form-47s/provisional results.
The applicants highlighted the SHC's directive to the ECP to address their complaints with speaking orders by February 22 and resolve discrepancies in Forms 45 and 47. They alleged that the ECP dismissed their complaints without providing speaking orders and dated the short orders falsely to mislead the court, as per Dawn.
Barrister Ali Tahir noted that the ECP rejected complaints from around 50 PTI-backed candidates, prompting others to seek similar contempt proceedings against the alleged perpetrators.
The petitioners argued that the ECP's actions amounted to deliberate and wilful contempt of the SHC's February 13 order, making them liable for contempt of court proceedings.
The PTI-backed candidates' move underscores their dissatisfaction with the handling of their complaints by the ECP.
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