PTI-backed Bilal Ijaz declared winner from NA-81

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday declared victory notification of PML-N MNA Azhar Qayyum Nahra from NA-81 Gujranwala as null and void and pronounced PTI-backed candidate Chaudhry Bilal Ijaz as the successful candidate, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

LHC’s Justice Shahid Kareem conducted the hearing on the petition filed by Bilal Ijaz. After hearing arguments from layers, the LHC judge declared the notification as null and void.

Sardar Latif Khosa represented the petitioner while Imran Arif Ranjha Advocate appeared before the court on behalf of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Azhar Qayyum Nahra hired Waqas Mir advocate to represent him in court.

The ECP lawyer informed the court that the Commission has the power to overturn to the returning officer’s decision and it had ordered recounting of votes in accordance with the law. The returning officer has no authority to rejected the application for vote recounting, he added.

When the judge asked how could the ECP order vote recounting after issuance of final result, Arif Ranjha said the final result was announced as per form 47.

The petitioner’s lawyer argued that Azhar Qayyum Nahra was declared winner after vote recount. He was of the opinion that the ECP has no power to again order recounting of votes after issuing final result.