Bhootani’s victory taken to election tribunal

Former speaker says he had won by a comfortable lead

QUETTA: Former Balochistan Assembly speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani on Saturday downplayed the election petition filed against him by his opponent, saying that such petitions “are usually filed by defeated candidates”.

Bhootani had won the NA-272 Lesbela-Cum-Gwadar seat as an independent candidate security around 69,000 – the highest number of votes in any constituency of Balochistan – beating Jam Kamal Khan, the incumbent Chief Minister of Balochistan, and Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) President.

Bhootani told The Express Tribune that defeated candidates filed election petitions for the sake of their satisfaction. He added that the petition had no importance as he had won the Lesbela-Gwadar seat by a comfortable lead.



He said he had not received any notice from the election tribunal and had no information in this regard. He said his lawyers would submit a reply to the petition if he received any notice. “We will win in the court of law with the prayers of the people just as we had won in the people’s court,” he added.

Balochistan CM Kamal had filed an election petition against Bhootani and others who had contested the election for the Lasbela-Gwadar seat in the election tribunal.



The tribunal, headed by Justice Abdullah Baloch of the Balochistan High Court, accepted the petition after initial hearing and issued notices to Bhootani and the other candidates. The next hearing of the petition will be held on September 17, 2018. Rahmatullah advocate represented the petitioner in the tribunal.