ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Monday overturned the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict and pronounced the three PML-N candidates successful.
The top court’s three-member bench, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, announced the order to recount ballots 2-1. Justice Aqeel Abbasi disagreed with the CJP and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
It should be noted that objections were submitted in NA 154 Lodhran, NA 81 Gujranwala, and NA 79 Gujranwala during the February elections.
The court upheld the ECP’s ruling about the success of Abdul Rehman Kanju, Azhar Qayyum Nehra, and Zulfikar Ahmed.
Azhar Nahra had contested the LHC’s decision to postpone his win notice from NA-81.
Initially, the PTI-backed independent candidate Chaudhry Bilal was declared the winner of the February general election by a margin of 7,791 votes. However, Nahra demanded a recount, and the ECP certified Nahra the returned candidate by a margin of 3,100 votes. During the recount, at least 10,000 of Nahra’s votes were found invalid. Bilal contested the ECP’s decision in the LHC, which on April 4 reversed the notification of Azhar Nahra’s victory in NA-81.
The court also decided that the ECP could not hear complaints about electoral disputes until election tribunals were established.