Pak's poll body dismisses Nawaz Sharif's plea to cancel notification of winner from constituency he lost

Islamabad: Pakistan's election commission on Thursday dismissed a plea by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to stop the notification of the winning candidate in a constituency in Punjab province where he was defeated by an independent candidate backed by ex-premier Imran Khan's party, according to a media report.

Hearing the plea, a two-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja dismissed the request and directed Nawaz Sharif's counsel to refile the application, the ARY News reported.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-(PTI) backed independent candidate Shahzada Gustasap Khan won the NA-15 Mansehra seat with 105,249 votes, while Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former prime minister and supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came second with 80,382 votes.

Following defeat in the constituency, Nawaz Sharif challenged the victory notification of Gustasap, according to the report.

The returning officer, in the report submitted to the ECP, stated that the result of the constituency had been compiled as per Form 45, according to a report in The Express Tribune newspaper.

Nawaz Sharif, 74, contested the February 8 polls from two constituencies. Apart from the NA-15, he also contested from the NA-130 constituency in Lahore which he won by 59,000 votes.

On Thursday, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel urged the election body not to reject his client’s plea, to which ECP directed him to apply again.

The development came amidst Nawaz Sharif's younger brother and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, 72, is expected to become the premier after a post-poll alliance of leading political parties led by the two brothers struck a deal with other parties to form a coalition government after last week's elections resulted in a hung Parliament.

None of the three major parties, the PML-N, the Pakistan People's Party, or the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have won the necessary seats in the February 8 general elections to secure a majority in the National Assembly and, therefore, will be unable to form a government on their own.