GB election tribunal suspends IPP's Imam Malik's membership, orders recount of postal ballots in GBA-16 Diamer-II

GILGIT: A Gilgit-Baltistan election tribunal on Friday suspended the GB Assembly membership of Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party’s (IPP) Imam Malik from GBA-16 Diamer-II, directing the returning officer (RO) of the constituency to complete the verification and counting of postal ballot papers by September 16. Election tribunal judge Mushtaq Ahmed conducted a hearing on a petition filed by PPP candidate Attaullah Khan challenging the general election result in the constituency. Khan, through his counsel Advocate Islamuddin, had challenged the issuance of the election result of GBA-16 Diamer-II after the GB general elections in June. The petitioner argued that the RO of the constituency had issued Form 49 without counting the postal ballots. Subsequently, the GB chief election commissioner (CEC) had declared Malik, then an independent candidate, the winner from the constituency.

He later joined the IPP. The petitioner pleaded with the tribunal to declare the result of the constituency null and void and the notification declaring the returned candidate illegal. He also requested the tribunal to issue a consolidated result after counting the postal ballots. After hearing arguments from both sides and considering reports from the CEC, Justice Ahmed issued the verdict in the case on Friday. The judgement said the RO had no authority to issue a provisional consolidated result. The CEC had also committed a serious error by issuing a declaration based on the provisional consolidated result, it added. “The preliminary order is issued to ensure strict compliance with the mandatory statutory requirement under Section 95 of the Elections Act 2017 read with Rule 85 of the Elections Rules 2017, for the issuance of the final consolidated result of the constituency GBA-16 Diamer-II,” Justice…