GBLA-2 election: G-B’s top court orders forensic audit of postal ballots

By Tanveer Abbas

GILGIT: The Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan on Thursday ordered a forensic audit of postal ballot papers in the GBLA-2 election case. The decision comes after Fathullah Khan, the former Gilgit-Baltistan planning minister, challenged the verdict of the election tribunal.

“The court has partially accepted Fathullah Khan’s plea and ordered a forensic audit of the postal ballot papers,” said Jameel Ahmed while talking to Hum News English. The PPP leader clarified that the court has remanded the case back to the Election Tribunal and not quashed its verdict. “Till the culmination of the case, I am still a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly,” he added.

However, Fateh Ullah Khan claimed that the court has suspended the election tribunal’s order and Jameel has no legal grounds to hold the office. He said that after receiving the written judgment, they would move the Election Commission for the de-notification of Jameel Ahmed.

Background

On August 18, the Election Tribunal of Gilgit-Baltistan disqualified Fathullah Khan from the G-B Assembly. The tribunal had 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.

Election Tribunal Judge Inaytur Rehman had passed the judgment that after the equality of general votes proved between the petitioner Jameel Ahmed and the returned candidate Fathullah Khan, both are declared as the return candidates. Each one of them is entitled to represent his constituency in the Assembly for half of its term of office.

Since Fathullah Khan was already declared a returned candidate by the Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan and had represented his constituency during the first half of the term, requisite notices as per the mandate of section 159 of the Election Act 2017 were dispensed with.

Jameel Ahmed had previously challenged Fathullah Khan’s victory in the 2020 elections, alleging election rigging. The Supreme Appellate Court’s decision to order a forensic audit adds a new layer of scrutiny to the case.