BEFORE THE HONORABLE ELECTION TRIBUNAL , LAHORE

ELECTION PETITION No. 316/2013 WALID IQBAL VERSUS SHEIKH ROHALE ASGHAR ETC

(ELECTION PETITION) APPLICATION FOR GRANT THE PERMISSION TO ADDUCE ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE IN THE ELECTION PETITION ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER. Respectfully Sheweth: 1. That the titled petition is pending adjudication before this Honourable Tribunal and the same is now fixed for today i.e. 14-04-2014 for submission of the final arguments by the parties. 2. That during the pendency of the titled petition, this Honourable Tribunal has been apprised from the very outset that the Respondent No.2 had obtained a direction from the worthy Election Commission of Pakistan (the Commission) under the provisions of Section 45 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1976 for the inspection of the documents retained by the Commission under section 44 thereof (except for ballot papers) and for the furnishing of copies or extracts, vide order dated 25-07-2013.

3.

That the said Respondent, allegedly, had been making efforts for implementation of the said Order, as the same was not implemented

for one or the other reason. However, the learned Chief Election Commissioner was pleased to pass further Orders of implementation of the above referenced Order. 4. That according to the record of the said inspection, all the nineteen contestants of NA 124, were, duly notified by the Commission, of the said inspection but only five of such contestants, either in person or through representatives have appeared and participated in the said inspection. The said five participants are namely the Petitioner, the Respondents No.1, 2,8 and 11. 5. That thereafter the said contestants got assembled before the concerned learned Returning Officer and the learned Provincial Election Commission was also present in the meetings; where the methodology of carrying out the inspection was agreed upon between them. The said inspection was conducted from 07-04-2014 to 11-04-2014 in the presence of all the said five contestants. 6. That in the said inspection, glaring incidents of commission of the illegality and the corrupt practices have been found which go to the root of the elections of NA-124 Lahore and makes the same liable to be declared as void. 7. That there were 264 Polling Stations established for the voting in NA124, Lahore alongwith the two Provincial Assembly Constituencies i.e. PP-145 and PP-146, Lahore. However, 20 bags out of the said 264 bags of NA 124 were missing; hence the concerned officials could only produce 244 bags for the said inspection in compliance of the order of the Commission. It was however, affirmed by the said officials that they may be able to produce the said missing 20 bags within a period of 7-10 days and in case of their failure to do so, the fact will be accordingly attested and certified to all the said present parties. The applicant

reserves his right to object to the said production, if any, within the permissible conditions of law. 8. That similarly, out of the said 244 bags, 90 bags were found with broken seals in clear disregard of the applicable laws in this behalf. Hence, leading to the conclusion that the elections were not fair and massive rigging has taken place. This fact of broken seals of the above mentioned bags was duly certified by the learned Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) of NA 124, Lahore for and on behalf of the concerned learned Returning Officer. The copies of the said certificates are placed herewith as Annex-A. 9. That out of the said 244 bags, there were 40 bags bearing no seals at all and resultantly only 71 bags were found sealed in terms of the applicable law and rules. This fact that the bags of the aforementioned polling stations were not sealed was also duly certified by the said learned ARO. The copies of these certificates are placed herewith as Annex-B. 10. That similarly Form-XIV were found missing in 48 bags despite the fact that the Form XIV is the only document, which is the basis of the consolidated results prepared in terms of Form XVI and whereupon the final results of the various Constituencies are notified by the Commission to declare the returned candidates enabling them to take the oath as member of the Parliament and all other Legislative Bodies. The Form-XV was also found missing in 52 bags. These facts of nonexistence/non-presence of the Forms XIV and Forms XV in the above mentioned bags were duly certified by the said learned ARO of NA 124. The copies of the said certificates are placed herewith as Annex-C and D respectively.

11.

That in the said inspection, it was also found that the 23 bags of the said 244 bags did not contain the counter folios of the electors of the said polling stations to whom these 23 bags were belonging to. This fact that the said 23 bags did not contain the aforementioned counter folios was duly certified by the said learned ARO. The copies of these certificates are placed herewith as Annex-E.

12.

That so also in 44 bags of the said 244 bags, the Electoral Lists of the voters were also missing. This fact that the Electoral Lists of the voters were missing in the said bags was also duly certified by the said learned ARO. The copies of these certificates are placed herewith as Annex-F.

13.

That similarly, it was also found that most of the Electoral Lists were without any thumb impression, though the affixing of the thumb impression by the voters on the Electoral List was mandatory in terms of the Elections Laws, or identical thumb impressions, which can be ascertained even with the naked eye appearing and affixed for multiple voters on the Electoral List. This fact that the Electoral Lists did not contain the thumb impression and also same thumb was impressed for multiple voters was also duly certified by the said learned ARO. The copies of these certificates are placed herewith as Annex-G.

14.

That one of the said bags was found open from the bottom and one other was found opened from the back. Hence it is absolutely clear that the elections of NA 124, Lahore were massively rigged and huge number of illegal and corrupt practice were carried out by the returned candidate. It is also an established fact that the polling staff and the other officials of the Commission have also failed to perform their legal duties and lawful obligations with regard to the said elections. The said facts were also verified, attested and certified by the learned ARO. The copies whereof are placed herewith as Annex-H. Since numerous bags

of the alleged votes were not found in accordance with the dictates of laws applicable in this behalf, hence the election of NA 124, Lahore is liable to be declared as void. 15. That for the convenience of this Honourable Tribunal, the brief statement of the said facts is also placed herewith as Annex-I. 16. That the hereinabove submitted facts clearly establish that the election of NA-124 Lahore was rigged and corrupt practices were exercised and conduct, by the Returned Candidate being in league with the polling staff appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan, whereby he has managed to secure the highest number of votes which resultantly has transpired into the issuance of the Notification dated 22-05-2013 of him being the successful and Returned Candidate. 17. That the present Applicant had also made an application before this Honourable Tribunal for the grant of permission to inspect the said bags under the provisions of Section 46 of ROPA and also for making an order of the verification of thumb impressions from NADRA. The Honourable Tribunal was pleased to dismiss the said application, however, the tentative observation having no bearing on the merits of the case. In the humble submissions, the present Applicant, in the availability of the herewith annexes on record, the Order dated 07-042014 is also liable to be recalled and proper enquiry into the matter is required to be conducted through this Honourable Tribunal. 18. That since the matter is still alive before this Honourable Tribunal and the parties have to address their final arguments, in the presence of the available record of the matter in hand; but in the wake of the current state of affairs and through the irrefutable evidence of corrupt and illegal practices, the spirit of the applicable law demands that the

petitioner be provided with an opportunity of adducing the additional evidence in the form of documentary as well as the oral account with regard to the said illegal corrupt practices. 19. That the learned ARO attesting the annexed documents leading to establish the said irrefutable evidence of the elections of NA-124 Lahore being rigged, has to appear before this Honourable Tribunal with regard to the said attestation of the facts mentioned therein. Similarly, the other persons, the list of whom will be provided after this Honourable Tribunal may be pleased to accept the instant application, as the witnesses in support of the said documents and the facts coming on surface during the pendency of the titled Election Petition. 20. That hereinabove described facts were not in the possession of the Applicant at the time of filing the titled petition, however, the statement in this regard was made through the pleadings and also through the witnesses appearing in support of the titled petition before this Honourable Tribunal. 21. That the titled petition is based upon mainly the illegal and corrupt practices carried out by the Returned Candidate and his supporters so also the ruling party i.e. PML(N) being in league with the polling staff appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct the elections of NA-124, Lahore and also that the Returned Candidate was not qualified to contest the elections in terms of the Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 read with Section 99(1)(cc) of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1976, (the ROPA) and Section 8-A of the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002. The one leg of the said attacks on the Notification of the Respondent No.1 as the Returned Candidate is fully supported by the documents annexed herewith. The production of the said documents

and the oral account in this regard will also facilitate this Honourable Tribunal to arrive at a just and final conclusion of the matter. 22. That the provisions of ROPA vests all the jurisdictions to this Honourable Tribunal to arrive at a just and final conclusion in titles petition and all measured must be taken to curb and control the HOUSE BREAKING EFFORTS by the candidates to break into the most solemn pillar of the State i.e. The Parliament. The nature of the jurisdiction and procedure for the trial of the titled petition is of inquisitorial nature in comparison to the adversarial nature and the exercise of such jurisdiction is clearly manifested by ROPA. Therefore, the technicalities, if any, coming in the way of the instant application, should not be allowed to defeat the object and purpose of the instant proceedings. 23. That the applicant inadvertently missed to place on record the copies of the consolidated results pertaining to NA 124, Lahore and instead thereof only the copies of such results of PP 145 and PP 146, Lahore were only placed for the kind perusal of this Honourable Tribunal. The copy of the said result i.e. Form XVI is placed herewith as Annex-J.

24.

That it is pertinent to mention here that the copy of Form XVII is available on the file and the non-placing of the copy of Form XVI is merely a clerical mistake. The said Form XVI is even otherwise a supporting document and is in the nature of public document and being so per se admissible; hence the law permits its placing o record as the document in evidence in furtherance of the claim of the applicant in the petition and its refusal to be received on file as such is likely to cause prejudice to the just and final conclusion in the matter and also to the applicant.

25.

That the non-placing of the said result was neither intentional nor willful. It is further submitted that said result is, even otherwise, is an admitted document. Therefore, the order to receive the same on the file is well within the interest of justice.

26.

That the applicant shall place the attested copies of the herewith annexed documents as Annex-A to Annex-I after this Honourable Tribunal may be pleased to accept the instant application and allow him to produce the said documents in support of his claim as his additional evidence.

It is, therefore, respectfully prayed that the application in hand may graciously be accepted and the Applicant may also be allowed to adduce the additional evidence described hereinabove in the form of the documents mentioned and also by calling and summoning the learned Assistant Returning Officer NA124, Lahore and the other witnesses whose list will be submitted before this Honourable Tribunal after the passage of the Order prayed for herewith. It is further prayed that the document mentioned in paragraph No.23 of the present application may also be allowed to be placed on record. Any other relief which this Honourable Tribunal may deem fit and appropriate in the circumstances of the case may also be granted.

Applicant/Petitioner Through

Barrister Khurram Raza Advocate Supreme Court

Muhammad Afzal Khan Advocate Supreme Court

Office No.112-B/1, Block-E/1, Gulberg-III, Lahore

BEFORE THE HONORABLE ELECTION TRIBUNAL, LAHORE

ELECTION PETITION No. 316/2013

WALID IQBAL

VERSUS

SHEIKH ROHALE ASGHAR ETC

(ELECTION PETITION)

APPLICATION FOR GRANT THE PERMISSION TO ADDUCE ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE IN THE ELECTION PETITION ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER.

Affidavit of: Walid Iqbal son of Justice (Rtd.) Javid Iqbal, resident of House No.61, Main Gulberg, Lahore.

I, the above named deponent do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as hereunder: DEPONENT VERIFICATION: Verified on oath at Lahore on this 14th day of April, 2014 that the contents of the above affidavit are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief and nothing has been concealed therein.

DEPONENT