LHC moved against contesting polls on more than two seats

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday accepted a petition seeking directions to prohibit the practice of contesting elections on more than two seats.

Justice Anwaar Hussain overruled the registrar's office's objections on the petition filed by lawyer Ishtiaq Chaudhry on behalf of a citizen, and ordered the application to be fixed for hearing on January 30.

Citing the example of India where the practice of running on multiple seats has been banned, the petitioner argued that contesting elections on more than two seats incurs damage to the national exchequer.

“India has also legislated against contesting elections on more than two seats as such a practice is a waste of public money and time,” he contended and recommended a “two-seat rule” to strike the right balance.

He prayed the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan to ban contesting elections on more than two seats.

The petitioner said contesting elections on more than two seats damages the national exchequer.

It may be noted here that PTI Chairman had last year filed nomination papers in nine constituencies for the upcoming by-elections on the seats that fell vacant after National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of PTI MNAs.

The decision had prompted similar petitions in courts. However, the former premier was eventually able to run for all nine seats simultaneously, making history by winning the majority of them.

A constitutional amendment bill was also moved in the National Assembly, seeking a ban on candidates contesting elections on multiple seats.