Pakistan SC orders re-election at 29 polling stations of Balochistan

Dismissing an appeal filed by Jamhoori Watan Party's (JWP) Shahzain Bugti, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered re-election at 29 polling stations of NA-259 in Dera Bugti.

A two-member bench led by Justice Gulzar Ahmed maintained the decision of the election tribunal. The court ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct the polls and announce the results within 90 days, The Express Tribune reported.

The commission had directed re-polling in 29 polling stations of the NA-259 and appointed Regional Election Commissioner Sibi Imran Ahmed as the district returning officer and District Election Commissioner Sibi Nadeem Asghar Palal as the returning officer to supervise the process.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had disqualified Shahzain, withdrawing its notification according to which the JWP leader was the returned candidate from NA-259.

According to the Commission, the notification issued on August 7, 2018, was withdrawn in the light of a judgment passed by the Balochistan Election Tribunal on June 28 this year over an election petition titled 'Tariq Mehmood Khetran vs returning officer and others.'

Khetran, Shahzain 's opponent, had challenged the results.

Adding that Shahzain had won the election with a margin of 1,221 votes, JWP leader's counsel asked the court to restore the notification. He had bagged 22,787 votes while his opponent Kethran had fetched 21,213 votes in 2018 election.

Immediately after his success, Bugti had announced that he would support the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.