Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Chaudhry Mohsin Aziz has challenged the election result in AJK’s LA-17 Haveli-Kahuta constituency, alleging manipulation of Form-24 and demanding a recount of votes.
The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Commission (AJKEC) has admitted Aziz’s application for hearing and summoned the parties to appear at 10am on Thursday in Muzaffarabad.
The petition was submitted to the chief election commissioner through Aziz’s lawyers, Raja Sajjad Advocate and Chaudhry Ghulam Nabi Advocate.
Aziz is challenging the declared victory of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate and AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, alleging that the result was altered to turn his own victory into a defeat.
He claimed to possess results compiled by presiding officers from all polling stations in the constituency, which he said showed him winning by a margin of around 8,600 votes.
Aziz also challenged PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to agree to a recount, saying he would quit politics if the recount failed to establish that he had won the constituency by a substantial margin.
The dispute follows the third phase of the AJK Legislative Assembly elections, during which polling was held in constituencies in Bagh and Haveli after earlier phases in the Mirpur and Muzaffarabad divisions.
The allegations of electoral manipulation have not been established, with the dispute now before the AJK Election Commission for consideration.