ISLAMABAD: Without going into the merits, the Supreme Court heeded on Monday a passionate appeal of PTI chief Imran Khan seeking verification of thumb impressions of voters in at least four constituencies of Punjab.
The court ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to summon reports from two election tribunals on non-compliance of the commission’s directive to complete the findings in time.
The constituencies from where the compliance reports have to be sought are NA-125 Lahore won by Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq and NA-154 Lodhran bagged by Siddiq Khan Baloch. Both are PML-N stalwarts.
“Zabardast (wonderful)” was the instant reaction of Imran Khan who attended the proceedings along with other party leaders and briefly addressed the court with its permission though the case was argued by PTI vice-president Advocate Hamid Khan.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan had taken up the miscellaneous application of PTI’s additional secretary Saifullah Nayazee in the 2012 Workers Party case.
Mr Nayazee had requested the court to order recounting and scrutiny of thumb impressions in four constituencies, including NA-110 Sialkot from where Minister for Defence and Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif got elected and NA-122 Lahore from where National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq won the election.
The ECP secretary is required to summon reports from the election tribunals and submit fortnightly para-wise comments on the petition.
Hamid Khan regretted that despite a clear directive by the ECP to complete the scrutiny of thumb impressions in 120 days, the matter was still pending.
Imran Khan described the May 11 elections as the most rigged ones in the country’s history and said his party’s appeal involved breach of fundamental rights because sanctity of the ballot was massively eroded in the elections.
He said that taking note of the rigging by the apex court in at least four constituencies would give a broad general idea to the extent of rigging and also help in ensuring that the next general elections were held in a free, fair and transparent manner. Otherwise, the election tribunals will take almost four years in deciding the matter.
“This is not a party-specific case; it involves a question for the future functioning of democracy and future generations,” he said.
The chief justice, however, observed that the court would not like to comment at this stage on merits of the case and said the Supreme Court was a court of precedent. “If we allow this case, several other matters from Karachi to Khyber will come to the court,” the chief justice said and asked how would “we then stop them”.