LAHORE - Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the Lahore High Court on Thursday dismissed petition filed by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq against an election tribunal holding proceedings on alleged rigging in NA-122.
In his verdict, judge held that the petition filed by Ayaz Sadiq was not maintainable relying upon the order of a full bench that courts cannot interfere into the routine proceedings of election tribunals. The judge also recalled the stay order granted earlier.
NA speaker, who was declared winner against PTI chief Imran Khan in 2013 general elections, had moved the High Court saying that Imran Khan did not annex all requirement and solid arguments with his petition before the relevant election tribunal for vote recount.
He submitted that the petitions filed by PTI were invalid and based on malafied intentions. The petitioner stated that eligibility of any candidate cannot be challenged on the basis of incomplete documents. PTI chief through his counsel argued that the plea taken by the speaker was baseless and did not pertain to the merits of the case.
RO stops record scrutiny:
The Returning Officer (RO) of NA-122 postponed the inspection of ballots on Thursday as the district administration failed to separate the record of the national assembly from that of provincial assembly constituencies.
Earlier, Election Commission of Pakistan had ordered the scrutiny of the record while admitting an application filed by PTI chief Imran Khan. RO Shahida Saeed returned the election record to the district administration and directed it to produce it again with required filtration.