The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the attorney general on a petition moved by former MPA Iqbal Langrial challenging a bar on him contesting elections.
Iqbal submitted that he had been disqualified by a three-member election tribunal of the LHC on the grounds that he had a fake degree. The tribunal banned him from contesting elections permanently.
The petitioner argued that a permanent ban, under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, on a citizen contesting elections was unconstitutional and against democratic norms. He asked the court to set aside the tribunal’s judgment and allow him to participate in the upcoming general elections.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the initial arguments and issued notice to the attorney general for assistance for April 10.
714 more nomination forms issued
As many as 714 nomination forms were issued and nine candidates submitted their nominations on Tuesday. Party workers obtained nomination forms on behalf of several prominent leaders including Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, Shafqat Mehmood, Aslam Pervez Gara, Habibullah Warraich, Arshad Javed Ghurki, Aurangzeb Burki and Arshad Niazi. As many as 162 forms were obtained for the National Assembly, 331 for the provincial assembly, 163 for reserve seats for women and 59 for minorities. Those who submitted their nominations on Tuesday included Imran Chishti (NA-123), Jahangir Ashraf Vance (NA-118), Syed Fawad Hussain (PP-144), Muhammad Shehzad Malik and Nadeem Hameed (PP-138). Three candidates for seats reserved for women and one for minorities also submitted their nomination papers. The nomination forms can be obtained by March 29. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be completed by April 5. The last date for filing appeals before election tribunals is April 9. The revised list of candidates will be published on April 18.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2013.