Spokesperson says people shouting sectarian slogans were not party workers .
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has disqualified Ahmed Ludhianvi, chief of the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), from taking part in the PP-78 Jhang by-poll, which is scheduled for December 1.
On Friday, a division bench headed by Justice Qasim Khan declared the ASWJ chief ineligible to contest for the provincial assembly seats and also disqualified PML-N’s candidate Rashida Yaqoob from taking part in the by-polls.
Petitioner Sheraz Akram had challenged the returning officer’s (RO) decision for accepting Ludhianvi’s nomination papers and requested the court to revert the decision as the candidate had concealed information in his nomination papers.
Ludhianvi, the plaintiff submitted, showed that his bank account had been closed by the State Bank, which, Sheraz stated, was not true.
The plaintiff also claimed that the banned organisation’s leader had mentioned in his nomination papers that his profession was ‘Khatabat’ (lecturing) while he actually worked in the agriculture sector.
He pointed out that Ludhianvi had not mentioned his son’s land ownership details and also did not submit income tax returns as he held neither the National Tax Number nor paid taxes. He added that many cases had been registered against Ludhianvi related to his illegal activities.
Ludhianvi’s counsel submitted that the allegations against him were baseless, and no one could be declared ineligible for contesting elections merely on the plea of registration of a case.
He had requested the court to declare the RO’s decision of accepting the nomination papers of both the candidates null and void.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ