Islamabad (Web Desk): the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday accepted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Miftah Ismail's application, seeking a recount in NA-249 Karachi by-elections.
According to details, the ECP will hear the petition on May 4 whereas the electoral body has also issued notices to all the candidates in this regard.
As per an ECP's notification, "Miftah Ismail submitted an application under section 95 (6) of the Elections Act, 2017 on 01.05.2021 before the Commission wherein he has requested for a complete recount of the entire constituency."
"Since the consolidation of result has not yet been done and as the margin of victory is less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency or 10,000 votes whichever is less in accordance with the provisions of Section 95 (5) of the Act, therefore; the Commission is satisfied that prima facie case exists for intervention, and therefore stay the consolidation process."
Meanwhile, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the election commission should conduct the polls again in the constituency rather than recount the votes.
On April 30, the Qadir Khan Mandokhel of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was declared successful in the by-elections at National Assembly constituency, NA-249 Karachi West-II, according to the unofficial results.
Mandokhel secured 16,156 votes, while Miftah Ismail of the PML-N bagged 15,473 votes.
Surprisingly, Nazir Ahmed, the candidate of recently proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) stood third as he secured 11,125 votes.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) candidate Mustafa Kamal could acquire only 9,227 votes, followed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Amjad Afridi with 8,922 votes and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate Muhammad Mursaleen with 7,511 votes.
The voter turnout remained 21.64 per cent in the constituency and the total votes cast were 73,471 out of 339,591 votes registered in the area.
The NA-249 Karachi West-II constituency fell vacant after PTI’s Faisal Vawda resigned from the seat to become a senator.
Vawda had defeated PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif during the general elections in 2018.