The Supreme Court of Pakistan has reversed the Lahore High Court’s decision to recount votes in three National Assembly constituencies – NA-154 Lodhran, NA-81 Gujranwala, and NA-79 Gujranwala. The court upheld the Election Commission’s decision, declaring that all three PML-N candidates were winners. Consequently, PML-N has won three additional seats in the National Assembly.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa delivered a reserved judgment. The majority held that the election commission is a constitutional institution that should be respected. Unfortunately, some judges speak ill about others. The Supreme Court bench accepted appeals filed by PML-N candidates. And set aside the judgemejudgmentore the High Court. Thus restoring to the office the EC’s ruling on recounting. The court also restored Rana Arshad for PP-133 Nankana Sahib, a PML-N candidate.
Details Of The DecisionÂ
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan made their majority decision while Justice Aqeel Abbasi dissented with a 2-1 margin, respectively. Judgment is contained in forty-seven pages, with twenty-four pages being for majority opinion, while dissenting notes are included in twenty-three pages. The Majority Decision emphasized that the Election Commission is a Constitutional Institution that ought to be respected and condemned the remarks made by Lahore High Court Judges against the Election Commission’s head and members, which were irrelevant. The conviction of the Lahore High Court could not stand.
It also indicated that some judges don’t look at this side and makinmakeogatory remarks. According to the verdict, every constitutional institution/officeholder deserves respect, and an institution qualifies its credibility only. When it performs its duties respecting boundaries. Under Section 95(5) of the Election Act. The Returning Officer (RO) can order a recount if he finds a five percent difference in total votes cast. According to the law, a recount is allowed if there is an eight thousand vote difference in National Assembly constituencies and a four thousand vote difference in Provincial Assembly constituencies. If the number of rejected votes equals or exceeds the winning margin, there can also be a recount.
The court observed that recount applications for three constituencies were received on February 9th and 10th, 2023. An amendment to the Election Act 2017 authorizing RO to make an order of recount was enacted on August 5, 2023. This amendment was available when this case reached the High Court. But the Lahore High Court did not consider Section 95(5) either.
