Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Lahore High Court issued notices to the election commission on two petitions against it.
The judge provisionally allowed the petitioners to contest elections and adjourned the hearing till April 2. Malik Asghar had submitted that he wanted to contest election for a National Assembly seat from Faisalabad but his name was missing from the voters’ list. He said the election commission had made a mistake.
The judge directed the election commission to include Malik Asghar’s name in the voters’ list. The judge also sought a report from the election commission by the next hearing.
Advocate Naila Wali had submitted that even though she was a resident of Lahore her name was not included in the voters’ list.
She said her vote had been shifted to Karachi. Wali said she wanted to contest election on a reserve seat from Lahore but could not do so. She prayed the court to direct the election commission to include her name in the voters’ list in Lahore. The judge directed the election commission that Advocate Naila Wali must not be stopped from submitting nomination forms from Lahore. The judge also sought a report from the election commission on her petition by April 2.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2013.