ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that he has been denied the basic right of recounting as enshrined in the Election Act 2017.
“Election Act 2017 has completely been ignored,” Saad Rafique wrote on his twitter account after the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday set aside the decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) regarding recounting of votes in NA-131 Lahore-XI.
Saad Rafique said that the act of halting the recounting has clearly implied that the whole election process is fishy. He said that the government of Imran Khan will be a by-product of rigging and repression.
Earlier in the morning, the Supreme Court stopped the recounting of votes in NA 131, declaring the LHC’s decision as null and void.
The Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan won the election held on July 25 from NA-131 by securing 84313 votes against Saad Rafique’s 83633 votes. But Saad Rafiqui requested a recount of rejected votes, which was complied, but after the recounting of rejected votes, Imran Khan’s victory remained upheld.
ایک دن کی دوبارہ گنتی میں عمران کے بوگس ووٹ نکلے تو گنتی رکوانے سپریم کورٹ پہنچ گئے۔ عمران نے اپنی بوگس کامیابی کی اصلیت خود ہی بتا دی۔
— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) August 8, 2018
عمران کو 680 ووٹوں سے جیتا ھوا بتایا گیا تھا
2835 مسترد شدہ ووٹوں اور صرف پانچ پولنگ سٹیشنز کی دوبارہ گنتی میں عمران کے 78+39=117 ووٹ کم ھو چکے ھیں
الیکشن ایکٹ 2017 کو مکمل نظر انداز کردیا گیا ھے
مجھے نئے قانون کے مطابق دوبارہ گنتی کے بنیادی حق سے محروم کر دیا گیا ھے
— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) August 8, 2018
عمران کی دوبارہ گنتی رُکوانے کے لئے بھاگ دوڑ تھوک کر چاٹنے کے مترادف ھے
دوبارہ گنتی رُکوانے کے عمل سے واضح ھو گیا دال میں کالا نہیں ساری دال ھی کالی ھے
عمران جھرلو وزیر اعظم اور ان کی حکومت جبر اور دھاندلی کی پیداوار ھو گی
— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) August 8, 2018
Separately in a statement, the PML-N leader Maryam Aurangzeb said that it is our right to ask for recounting if the victory margin is very low. She said that the Election Act binds for recounting over the difference of five percent or less than 10, 000 votes.
Maryam Aurangzeb said that suspension of recounting is in contradiction to the Election Act. “We are being deprived of our legal right,” she said.
The former information minister said that in the recounting of votes Imran Khan’s lead decreased from 680 to 602. She said that Imran Khan and his supporters have stolen the mandate of the people of NA-131.