Local governments: Reply sought on Hassaan’s candidature by 25th

PTI leader Zubair Khan Niazi had filed the application challenging Hassaan’s election as chairman

LAHORE:

Justice Shahid Karim of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday gave “last chance” to the counsel for Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan to reply to a petition challenging his candidature and election as Union Council 107 chairman.

On March 2, the judge had issued a notice to the Election Commission and Hassaan on an application seeking a stay order against his taking oath of office until the court had decided the petition challenging his candidature.

On Thursday, counsel for Hassaan sought time to file reply. The judge told the lawyer he was giving him the last chance and that he should submit a reply until April 25.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Zubair Khan Niazi had filed the application challenging Hassaan’s election as chairman.

Niazi said he had already challenged Hassaan’s candidature in the LHC and that the matter should be decided before a mayor was elected.

In the main petition, Niazi had said that Hassaan had been Lahore Development Authority vice chairman… and a director at the Lahore Waste Management Company.

He said that under Section 27 of the Local Government Act, 2013, a person serving in an office which was controlled by a provincial government was not eligible to contest local government elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2016.