Islamabad - The Election of Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued notifications of five more successful candidates including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan from NA-131 Lahore. The other four constituencies included NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-90 Sargodha, PK-4 and PP-26.
Meanwhile, the ECP also cleared Imran Khan of the charges of violating the code of conduct during the election campaign after his legal counsel Babar Awan tendered an apology on his behalf.
Separately, the ECP also accepted apologies from PTI leader Pervez Khattak, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq of the charges of violating the code of conduct during their election campaigns.
A four-member commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza announced its reserved verdicts in the cases. The commission warned these politicians not to use foul language in future.
Earlier on Thursday, Ayaz Sadiq and Pervez Khattak tendered their apologies to the commission for using indecent language during the election campaign. Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Imran Khan had already submitted their apologies.
In the case pertaining to violation of the secrecy of the ballot against Imran Khan, his legal counsel Babar Awan submitted a written reply explaining that the secrecy of the ballot was not violated deliberately by his client.
Awan in the statement said that prior permission had not been sought from Khan before filming him during the cast of his vote. He claimed that the secrecy screen behind which a voter is supposed to stamp the ballot had fallen due to the room being crowded.
He continued that Khan had even asked election officials where he should stand to stamp the ballot papers.
He sought notification of Khan as winning candidate from the NA-53 constituency.
The ECP rejected the written statement submitted by Awan as it did not carry Khan’s signature.
The counsel urged the ECP to dismiss the case regarding violation of vote secrecy and issue the notification of Khan’s victory from NA-53.
After initially reserving its verdict, the ECP rejected the written statement submitted by Awan as it did not have Khan’s signature on it.
The commission directed the counsel to submit the response signed by the PTI chief. The hearing of the case was adjourned until today.
Imran among 5 more successful candidates notified