G-B election commission restores assembly membership of PTI leader

By Tanveer Abbas

Gilgit: In the light of the Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court’s order, the G-B Election Commission has restored the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly membership of Fatehullah Khan, a member of the Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf forward bloc.

Earlier, G-B Supreme Appellate Court Chief Judge Moham­mad Shamim Khan had set aside the GB election tribunal’s decision that had declared Pakistan People’s Party leader Jamil Ahmed as a returned candidate from the Gilgit-II constituency, and had remanded back the matter to the GB election tribunal for fresh decision after forensic verification of postal ballot papers.

According to the written judgment issued by the court on Saturday, the court directed the GB election commission to restore the membership of Fatehullah Khan.

Consequent to the order, the GB election commission issued a fresh notification, restoring the membership of Fatehullah Khan on Monday.

Background

The legal tussle over the Gilgit-II constituency began in November 2020 when Fathullah Khan was declared the winner in the constituency and was assigned ministerial portfolios. However, his victory was challenged by PPP’s Jamil Ahmed, alleging vote rigging.

On August 18, deciding the case, the GB election tribunal ruled in favour of PPP’s Jameel Ahmed for the remaining term on the grounds that both candidates had an equal number of votes, excluding the postal ballot papers.

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The tribunal had suspended the GB Assembly membership of PTI member and former minister for planning Fathullah Khan. Later, Fath­ullah challenged the election tribunal’s verdict in the GB Supreme Appellate Court.

The former planning minister of Gilgit-Baltistan had argued that around 1,700 postal votes had yet to be counted, and the tribunal’s decision was solely based on general votes. The GB Supreme Appellate Court accepted his plea and remanded the case back to the election tribunal for a fresh decision.

The court ordered the election tribunal to decide the authenticity of all the postal ballot papers after obtaining a forensic verification report and the thumb impression of voters over postal ballot papers through NADRA.