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 withheld notifications 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 in NA-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 has demanded 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's Khawaja 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.