Babar Awan’s nomination papers not reviewed properly, says AK Dogar

A writ petition was filed in LHC challenging acceptance of Awan’s nomination papers for senate elections.

LAHORE: Amicus curiae, AK Dogar argued on Friday that the retiring officer of Election Commission Punjab failed to fulfil his job responsibilities by not reviewing Babar Awan’s nomination papers properly.

In relation to a writ petition filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging acceptance of Awan’s nomination papers for senate elections, the federation law officers and amicus curiae appeared before the court of Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

After listening to the arguments, the court adjourned the hearing till March 16 and asked the amicus curiae, federation law officers and Awan’s counsel to come up with further arguments.

The petition, filed by Advocate Shahid Jami, stated that Awan has accumulated assets which do not match the amount of income tax he had paid. The petitioner also revealed that Awan’s assets had increased from Rs46,370,000 in 2006 to Rs328,703,323 in 2011.

Jami said that Awan failed to pay agriculture income tax despite having agriculture land worth Rs21,500,000 and agriculture equipment worth Rs1,000,000.

The petitioner further argued that Awan had ridiculed the higher judiciary for which the Supreme Court had already suspended his license. He added that Awan was registered as a voter in Rawalpindi however he resides in Islamabad and has no property in Rawalpindi.

The petitioner prayed the court to set aside the order of election commission to accept Awan’s nomination papers.