ISLAMABAD (National Times) – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday rejected PTI’s plea seeking a recount of votes in PP-7 Rawalpindi-II — which it lost to the PML-N by a razor-thin 49 vote margin.
The decision was announced by a five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja.

In the brief ruling, he said that the petitioner, PTI candidate Shabbir Awan, could neither prove any fraud or irregularity during the polls, nor was he able to state the reasons for the recount.

During the hearing, the lawyer of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Shabbir Awan said that the petitioner lost by 49 votes, our request for recount is not being processed. On this, the Chief Election Commissioner said that no application has been filed on your behalf in the Election Commission. No application has been received by the Election Commission till 5 pm yesterday. You filed the petition after the High Court judgment. You have accused that ECP is not looking at your application.

On this, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Raja Sagheer’s lawyer said that Shabbir Awan had no proof of rigging. They came to ECP after Lahore High Court (LHC). Raja Sagheer s lawyer called PTI’s request “baseless”. “They failed to prove their point even in front of the RO.

“At first they were talking about the entire constituency. Now they are talking about 21 polling stations,” he said, adding that PTI s stance was invalid because it kept changing.

After hearing the arguments of both parties, ECP rejected the plea of PTI to recount the votes.