Pak court declares void election of National Assembly deputy speaker

A Pakistan court on Friday declared void the election of the National Assembly deputy speaker, Qasim Khan Suri. Khan, who contested the general election in 2018 on the ticket of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was elected from the NA-265 constituency in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

However, his rival Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani from the Balochistan National Party (BNP), filed a petition in Balochistan High Court against the election result, alleging that the polling was rigged. Raisani had contended that out of the total 114,000 votes cast during the polls in NA-265, "65,000 votes were invalid". He argued that the election was "rigged" since a sizeable number of votes could not be verified.

Suri had received 25,979 votes, while Raisani bagged 20,394 votes. As many as 3,422 votes were rejected by the Pakistan election commission. The Balochistan High Court after hearing the case accepted the petition, resulting in the de-seating of Suri.

Pronouncing its verdict in the case on Friday, the high court's election tribunal Suri's election to the National Assembly as void and ordered a re-election in the NA-265 constituency. The tribunal did not announce a date for the re-election.

Suri, who has been de-seated following the tribunal's verdict, remains eligible to contest the re-election. "It is victory of BNP as well as all democratic forces," BNP Chief Akhtar Mengal told media after the verdict.

The sudden ouster of the deputy speaker comes as a shock for the ruling PTI party, which has thin majority in the parliament.