Imran’s victory notification issued for NA-131 Lahore: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday said it has issued a notification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s victory for NA-131 Lahore constituency.

The electoral body earlier this week had withheldnotifications of Imran's victory from NA-131 Lahore and NA-53 Islamabad constituencies. Although the ECP had issued victory notifications for the PTI chief in three other constituencies -- NA-35 Bannu, NA-243 Karachi and NA-95 Mianwali -- it had kept these notifications subject to its final decision in the pending cases against Imran.

The ECP said earlier today it has also cleared the notifications for Imran's victory inNA-35 Bannu, NA-243 Karachi and NA-95 Mianwali.

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The only constituency that the ECP has withheld the notification for is NA-53 Islamabad. The electoral body hasdemanded a signed apology from Imran for violating the electoral code of conduct while casting his vote during the general election 2018.

The PTI chairman, who is also the prime minister-in-waiting, made history by winning all five National Assembly seats he contested from in the July 25 polls.

The case

Imran Khan, with 84,313 votes, had defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Saad Rafique in closely contested polls in NA-131 Lahore-9 constituency.

PML-N'sKhawaja Saad Rafique had requested NA-131 Lahore constituency's returning officer to conduct a recount of the rejected votes. Following the re-tabulation, Imran's margin of victory had reduced to 608 votes.

Later, Rafique had petitioned to re-tabulate results of the entire constituency which was rejected by the returning officer. The PML-N leader had then challenged the decision in the Lahore High Court.

On August 4, the Lahore High Court had heard Rafique's petition and ordered a recount in the constituency. The high court had also ordered ECP to withhold Imran's victory notification for NA-131.

However, the Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the Lahore High Court's order to re-tabulate results of NA-131 constituency, and accepted Imran's petition against the ruling for hearing.