A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petitioner, disqualified MPA Shah Muhammad, and reserved the verdict after hearing arguments from the petitioner's lawyer Babar Awan. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had disqualified Shah Muhammad, who was elected on the provincial assembly seat (PK-89) from Bannu, for being his name on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.
During the hearing, his counsel Advocate Babar Awan argued before the court that the concerned district police officer had given his client a clearance certificate before he submitted his nomination papers for the 2018 general elections.
He maintained that placing a name on the Fourth Schedule is a violation of basic human rights. He added that the Election Commission of Pakistan could not de-seat a lawmaker for being one's name on the Fourth Schedule. At this Justice Aamer remarked that the court will assess the legal aspect of the case and concluded the hearing saying that the court would announce its judgement in this matter later.
Meanwhile, the same IHC bench dismissed the plea of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Member National Assembly (MNA) Zulfiqar Bhatti, seeking stay on re-polling at 20 polling stations of NA-91, Sargodha. However, Justice Aamer barred the ECP from issuing the polling results till it decides the main petition filed by the MNA against the decision of ECP.
During the hearing, Justice Farooq remarked that the court is viewing the orders of ECP for re-polling in the constituency. The bench could also turn down the decision of ECP in this regard, he further said. The judge asked under which powers, the ECP issued orders for re-election in NA-91.
At this, the ECP representative informed the bench that the electoral body had issued this order under Section-9. Later, the court deferred the case till February 15 for further proceedings in this connection.
Earlier, an investigation team, forwarding its report to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), had advised re-polling for 20 polling stations. As per plan, the re-polling in this constituency will be held on February 2. The ECP had formed the inquiry committee headed by its director, Nadeem Qasim.
According to the inquiry report, the ballot papers in certain polling stations of the constituency were found to have been tampered and over 2,000 ballot papers for the constituency bore double stamps. The revelation came in recounting of votes carried out on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The NA-91 constituency of Sargodha is currently being held by PML-N's Zulfiqar Bhatti. He had won the constituency after defeating Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Amir Sultan Cheema by a margin of 279 votes.