FCC Halts Zehri’s PB-21 Win, Orders ECP to Revisit Recount Requests

Overview

• A three-judge FCC bench set aside BHC and ECP orders from December 2024 after converting Muhammad Saleh Bhotani’s petition into an appeal.
• The Election Commission must decide afresh whether to recount votes at 39 PB-21 Hub polling stations, either allowing a recount or moving forward under law.
• If recount applications are allowed, votes will be re-tallied at the 39 stations; if denied, the matter should proceed preferably within two months.
• The notification declaring PPP’s Ali Hassan Zehri the returned candidate is suspended, and the petitioner is to be treated as returned until recount results are compiled for the ECP.
• Form 47 recorded 70,328 valid votes and 17,155 rejected/excluded ballots, with Zehri at 23,974 votes, Rajab Ali Rind at 17,441, and Bhotani at 17,403; Zehri resigned from the Balochistan cabinet ahead of the ruling.