PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat claims challenging election results in SC

By
Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui
PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat addresses a presser at NPC Islamabad on November 16, 2023. — NNI
PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat addresses a presser at NPC Islamabad on November 16, 2023. — NNI

  • "I have filed a petition against elections," Marwat says.
  • SC's registrar office 'hasn't received' petition yet: sources.
  • Politician asks SC to annul appointment of CEC, others.


Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat on Friday claimed he had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, challenging the results of the recently conducted general elections for alleged "rigging" under Article 184/3 of the Constitution.

However, sources within the SC Registrar's Office told Geo News that it is yet to receive the plea.

"I have filed a petition against the elections," Marwat told Geo News.

Marwat, in the petition filed by himself, pleaded with the SC to order the formation of a judicial commission to inquire into the allegations of rigging in the elections.

The judicial commission should consolidate the election results across the country including Rawalpindi.

In his plea, the politician also challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) committee formed to probe the allegations levelled by former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chatha as well as the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and members of the electoral authority.

"The appointment of the chief election commissioner and members should be annulled. All Form-47s of the National and provincial assemblies should be annulled," Marwat requested in his petition.

The formation of federal and provincial governments should be stopped, Marwat's constitutional petition read, adding that the governments should be restrained from issuing any orders.

This is not the first time someone has filed a petition against the results of the February 8 polls in the Supreme Court.

Earlier this week, the apex court disposed of a petition seeking re-election and annulment of the polls and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on the petitioner over his failure to appear before the court.

A three-member SC bench — led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar — conducted the hearing on Brigadier (retd) Ali Khan's petition.

Several political parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and others have expressed dissatisfaction over the transparency of the general elections.

Doubts over the polls were further exacerbated by the revelations made by now-former Rawalpindi Division commissioner Liaqat Chatha, who on Saturday, tendered his resignation out of "guilty conscience" for abetting large-scale electoral rigging in the garrison city further raising the political mercury in the country.