KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) gave a blow to the Pakistan Tehreek eInsaaf already struggling for numbers in the National Assembly.

SHC stopped the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from notifying thenames of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders as returned candidates inthree of Karachi’s constituencies until August 10.

The order came on the petitions of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP)NA-237 (Malir-II) candidate Abdul Hakeem Baloch, the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz’s (PML-N) NA-249 (West-II) candidate Shehbaz Sharif and theparty’s PS-116 (West-V) candidate Saleheen Tanoli, who seek recounting ofthe ballots cast in the three constituencies.

The counsel for PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said his client hadcontested last month’s general election for the National Assemblyconstituency NA-249 and secured 34,626 votes while the PTI’s candidateFaisal Vawda received 35,349 votes.

Sharif’s representative told the high court that there is a difference ofonly 723 votes between his client and the PTI’s candidate, while the numberof the rejected votes in the constituency stands at 2,684.

He said the petitioner had submitted an application for a vote recount tothe relevant returning officer, but the plea was rejected despite the factthat it is the RO’s responsibility to conduct the recount in accordancewith Section 95 (Consolidation of results) of the Elections Act.