Qasim Suri’s National Assembly membership nullified by election tribunal – Pakistan

The electoral tribunal of the Baluchistan High Court declared the election of Vice President Qasim Khan Suri to the National Assembly void and ordered a re-election in the NA-265 constituency (Quetta II).

The court did not announce a date for re-election. Suri, who was dismissed after the verdict of the court, remains eligible to challenge the re-election.

The result of NA-265 had been questioned by Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, who had filed a petition against an alleged fraud in the constituency.

In the course of the proceedings in the case, the court had also ordered the National Database and Registration Authority to submit a biometric verification of the voters who were registered in the constituency.

The electoral tribunal, headed by Judge Abdullah Baloch, had reserved his verdict on the matter earlier this month.

Raisani was one of the candidates who had competed since NA-265, but had lost to Suri, who subsequently became vice president of the National Assembly.

The candidate of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), in his petition, had claimed that out of a total of 114,000 votes cast during the polls in NA-265, "65,000 votes were invalid." He had argued that the election had been "manipulated" since a considerable number of votes could not be verified.

According to the results announced by the ECP, Suri had received 25,979 votes while Raisani had received 20,394 votes. According to the official results of the ECP, 3,422 votes in total had been rejected in the constituency.

Addressing the media after the verdict was announced, BNP chief Akhtar Mengal said the court's decision was "a victory for BNP and all democratic forces."

"Our doubts about manipulation in the elections have proven to be true," Mengal said. "The trust of people, who expect justice, has increased with this decision.

"[We] We hope that those who protested against electoral fraud after the 2013 polls will accept this decision. "

Mengal expressed his hope that "the Supreme Court [will] order a re-election in this constituency shortly after this verdict. "