MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Wednesday reinstated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Chaudhry Maqbool Gujjar as a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly, more than two years after he was de-seated.
In October 2023, an election tribunal in AJK declared the 2021 general elections in Maqbool Gujjar’s constituency – LA-35 Jammu II (Gujranwala/Sialkot) – null and void for irregularities and altering results.
Later, the Election Commission of AJK disqualified him, almost two years after the elections, and declared Chaudhry Ismail Gujjar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) successful in his seat.
However, after the recent court decision, Maqbool Gujjar’s membership has been restored, and he will again perform his duties as a member of the assembly.
Barrister Humayun Nawaz argued in the court as Maqbool Gujjar’s counsel in this case.
The petitioner, PML-N candidate Chaudhry Ismail, through his counsel, Raja Sajjad Ahmed, had challenged the results in the election tribunal in 2023, alleging that the returning officer changed the results.
The petitioner had accused the RO and polling staff of committing irregularities and altering results in Form 24 of at least 20 polling stations and leaving several counter files empty.
He urged the tribunal to recount and subsequently his declaration as the successful candidate from the constituency.
Announcing the verdict in favour of the petitioner, the tribunal judge declared that the polling staff had changed the results of 20 polling stations at the behest of Maqbool Gujjar to reduce the number of actually cast votes in the petitioner’s favour.
The judge pointed out that the counter files of eight polling stations were left blank without the requisite entries, which was in contravention of section 60 – a mandatory provision – of the AJK Elections Act, 2020, and rendered the election process suspicious.
