The election tribunals will start hearing petitions against the results of the July 25 polls from September 24.
For the purpose, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had constituted 20 specially convened courts for the trial and disposition of election-related disputes on national and provincial assembly seats.
Eight tribunals had been established in Punjab, five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four in Sindh and three in Balochistan.
“The tribunals were set up under the provisions of Section 140 of the Elections Act 2017, and on the recommendations of the chief justice high court,” read a notification issued by the ECP.
According to rules, aggrieved candidates have 45 days to file their petition in the relevant court after the establishment of special courts. “Since the notification was published last month, petitioners will have until September 22 to submit their papers,” an ECP official said.
Under the Elections Act 2017, if after the 120-days lapse, the verdict of the tribunal is unsatisfactory, the aggrieved may within 30 days of the date of the decision appeal to the Supreme Court.
A controversy surrounding the fairness of 2018 General Election was sparked shortly after the alleged crash of the Result Transmission System (RTS) on the polling day. However, a large number of petitions complain about the rejection of requests for a vote recount.
As per the ECP notification, judges will be re-examining results from the following national and provincial assembly constituencies: NA-68 to NA-87, PP-28 to PP-71, NA-88 to NA-98, PP-72 to PP-92, NA-99 to NA-116, PP-93 to PP-130, NA-117 to NA-149 and PP-131 to PP-202, NA-166 to NA-180, PP-237 to PP-267, NA-150 to NA-165, PP-203 to PP-236, NA-181 to NA-195, PP-268 to PP-297, NA-55 to NA-67 and PP-1 to PP-27, NA-18 to NA-33, PK-43 to PK-84, NA-40 to NA-51, NA-11 to NA-17, PK-25 to PK-42, NA-1 to NA-10, PK-1 to PK-24, NA-34 to NA-36, PK-85 to PK-93, NA-37 to NA-39, PK-94, PK-95, PK-96, PK-97, PK-98, PK-99, NA-257 to NA-264, PB-1 to PB-24, NA-265 to NA-272, PB-25 to PB-51, all national and provincial assembly constituencies of Karachi’s Malir, East, Korangi district, central, west and south district and all NA and PA constituencies of Sukkur, Larkana division, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpur Khas.
Published in Daily Times, September 4th 2018.
