The hearing on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Miftah Ismail’s plea, seeking a recount in the NA-249 by-poll is underway at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), reported on Tuesday.
Ismail, last week requested the chief election commissioner (CEC) to take emergency steps for taking custody of the NA-249 by-election record.
A four-member commission of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja hearing the plea. PML’s Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Muhammad Zubair have reached the ECP headquarters, while lawyers of both Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have not reached yet.
In his application, Miftah sought emergency action by CEC to seize sealed ballot papers and other election material used in NA-249 by-polls. He had stated in its plea that the election material should be kept at a secure location until the emergence of the final result of the by-polls.
He demanded CEC to keep the election material in a safe location under the supervision of Rangers or the Pakistan Army. He thanked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for issuing a stay order on the results of NA-249 by-election.
Ismail claimed that the majority of presiding officers (POs) and election staff belong to the Sindh government which illegally supported the provincial government and each political party has registered their complaints against it.
