ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered verification of votes in Sialkot's NA-110 constituency, where Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had emerged victorious in the 2013 general elections.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had taken up an application filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) Usman Dar, challenging the election of Asif in NA-110.
Asif had won the NA-110 seat with 92,803 votes, while the PTI’s Usman Dar could manage only 71,525. This was Khawaja Asif’s third consecutive win from the Sialkot National Assembly constituency after 2002 and 2008.
After accepting Dar's application for hearing, the apex court directed the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to verify counterfoils and thumb impressions on votes cast in NA-110.
The court gave Nadra a time period of three months to submit its report on verification of votes.
PTI's Usman Dar will have to bear the expense of the verification process, the court said in its order.
The NA-110 (Sialkot) constituency was one of the four constituencies for which the PTI had sought vote audit and re-election through election petitions. The other constituencies were NA-125 (Lahore), NA-122 (Lahore), and NA-154 (Lodhran).
