Islamabad :
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accepted the request of PML-N candidate Miftaah Ismail for recount in NA-249 by-election. The PML-N candidate was defeated by a margin of only 683 votes while 731 votes were rejected.
PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail, expressing dissatisfaction with the by-election results, had on April 30 requested the Returning Officer to reconsider but he rejected it.
After the application was rejected by the Returning Officer, Miftah Ismail requested the Election Commission under Section 95 (6) of the Election Act 2017 to recount all the votes cast in the constituency.
The petitioner contends that there is a discrepancy between the total votes recorded in Form 45 and Form 47 while the petitioner has also applied for forensic audit of Form 45.
According to the Election Commission, the results have not been finalized but the victory margin is less than 5% of the votes cast or less than 10,000 votes. Goes
The commission said that notices should be issued to all the candidates and a hearing would be held in the Election Commission on May 4 for recount of votes.
It may be recalled that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Qadir Khan Mandokhel was declared the winner in the by-election of NA-249 constituency of Karachi.
According to the preliminary results, a total of 73,471 votes were cast during the by-elections, but despite a very low voter turnout, the results were delayed and the result could not be announced overnight.
Miftah Ismail of PML-N came second with 15,473 votes and Mufti Nazir Ahmad Kamalvi of banned Tehreek-e-Libek Pakistan (TLP) came third with 11,125 votes.
According to unconfirmed results, Syed Mustafa Kamal, head of the Pak Sarzamin Party (PSP), came in fourth with 9,227 votes, up from 8,922 in the previous election. He came in fifth with the vote.
PPP candidate won by a margin of 683 votes while 731 votes cast were rejected and the turnout was 21.64 percent.
It should be noted that NA-249 Karachi West constituency was formed in the year 2018 by merging some areas included in NA-239 and NA-240.
The seat fell vacant following the March election by newly elected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator Faisal Wada, who resigned from his post.
It may be recalled that Faisal Wada had won the 2018 general elections from this constituency of Karachi West Two by defeating PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif by a margin of just 718 votes.
