RAWALPINDI (National Times) – The Returning Officer (RO) on Tuesday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Mohammad Shabbir Awan plea of recounting of votes in PP-7 Rawalpindi-II by-election, Dunya News reported.

Announcing the reserved verdict on the PTI candidate plea, the Returning Officer said that the PTI candidate failed to provide solid evidences for the recounting of votes.

In his verdict, the RO said that all polling agents were present at the time of the announcement of the polling result in PP-7 by-election and the request for recount was rejected on the basis of lack of evidence.

According to unofficial results, PML-N’s Raja Sagheer won the by-poll on the Punjab Assembly seat with a margin of just 49 votes defeating Mohammad Shabbir Awan of the PTI. The PTI also raised questions over the delayed announcement of the result in the constituency.

Mr Awan in his application said the winning candidate received 68,906 votes while he secured 68,857 with the difference of just 49 votes.

He argued in his application that the results in other constituencies across Punjab were announced at 7pm while PP-7’s result was shared quite late.