ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to hold re-polling in PK-23, Shangla.
A three-member bench rejected a petition filed by PTI leader Shaukat Yousafzai who moved the apex court against the commission for declaring void the results of the election on the Khyber Pakhtunwa Assembly seat over low turnout of female voters.
The ECP has issued a notification announcing schedule of by-election in PK-23, Shangla. The by-polls in the KP constituency will be held on September 10.
Last week, the Awami National Party (ANP)’s local leadership also announced support to the PTI candidate.
Former PTI minister and member provincial assembly Yousafzai had emerged victorious from the constituency with 17,933 votes defeating Mohammad Rishad of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) who got 15533 votes.
The victory notification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Shaukat Ali was not issued after the recently conducted general election because of low female voter turnout in the constituency. Only 3,500 of 86,698 women had cast their votes on July 25.
The ECP had decided to conduct a fresh round of polling in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) constituency. The decision to halt the notification was taken by a five-member bench of the ECP headed by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).
The Pakistan Army has also been summoned to provide assistance in the polling.
According to the rules, if among the total votes cast in a constituency, the share of women in the final count is less than 10%, the results of the polls may be declared void.
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