NA-48 by-election: Anjum Aqeel’s fate hangs in the balance. PHOTO: INP/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Candidates running for the August 22 National Assembly by-elections for NA-48 will now get a say in deciding the fate of Anjum Aqeel Khan’s attempts to restore his candidacy for the elections.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned all 22 candidates contesting the capital’s NA-48 constituency to appear before the commission on Tuesday regarding the hearing of Khan’s case.
Khan, who was elected Member National Assembly (MNA) from NA-48 in 2008, ran for the May 11 general elections from the same seat on a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket, but finished second to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Javed Hashmi by a 21,000 vote margin. Hashmi later vacated the seat in favour of his home constituency in Multan.
On Monday, two commission members — Justice Shahzad Akbar from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Justice Fazlur Rehman from Balochistan — heard the case in which Khan has claimed that his nomination papers were withdrawn on July 29 without his consent.
The members adjourned the hearing till Tuesday and directed that all other candidates be present at it.
ECP Spokesperson Khurshid Alam said the other candidates have been summoned because they are a party to the by-elections.
“If, for instance, the election date is changed because of Anjum Aqeel Khan, the other candidates will be affected,” Alam said. “So the commission wants to give them a chance to be heard, as is the case with court proceedings.”
The PML-N was expected to award the NA-48 ticket to former Rawalpindi MNA Hanif Abbasi. However, a day before the July 30 deadline to withdraw nomination papers, the party decided against Abbasi because of resistance within the party against his candidacy.
By that time, Khan’s nomination papers had also been withdrawn, allegedly by his legal counsel without his consent. PML-N’s official ticket then went to Advocate Ashraf Gujjar, who it is understood will be most affected if the ECP decides to restore Khan’s candidacy.
Gujjar, who has been allotted the PML-N election symbol, has maintained that the party has given him the go-ahead to contest the elections and that Khan will have to contest as an independent candidate even if the ECP’s verdict goes in his favour.
Khan filed a complaint with the ECP to restore him as the PML-N’s official candidate for NA-48 after a Returning Officer (RO) rejected his application on July 30 for cancelling the nomination papers withdrawal.
The RO has said the legal counsel was a responsible person and would not take any step without consulting Khan first.
Schoolteacher-turned real estate agent-turned real estate developer Khan, who was embroiled in slew of controversies during his term as MNA, said he was confident that he would get justice from the ECP. But he added he would not pursue the candidacy if the party leadership was averse to it.
“The party leadership has not told me anything about Gujjar’s candidacy,” he said. “I’ll go ahead if the party wants me to, but if it directs me to stop pursuing the case tomorrow, I will respect the decision.”
PML-N General Secretary Zafar Iqbal Jhagra issued a statement on Monday evening that the party’s parliamentary board has awarded the party’s official ticket to Gujjar after complete consultation. Jhagra said Gujjar is the party’s candidate for NA-48 and party chief Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif validated Gujjar’s ticket.
He urged PML-N workers in the capital to support Gujjar’s election campaign in the constituency. The PTI has fielded Asad Umar as its candidate for the by-elections, while the Jamaat-e Islami has withdrawn its candidate — Mian Aslam.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 13th, 2013.
COMMENTS (7)
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Allhamidullilah he has been awarded the party ticket and green signal once again and yes in sha ALLAH we will win with flying colors, And as per the cases against him that has been cleared by supreme court of pakistan and yes ofcourse PTI does not accept SCP so yeah you can call him scam or whatsoever but we do respect and accept whatever SCP says so, yet if not satisfied go and get evidence and then talk, bcos we are the law makers not the breakers, LONG LIVE PAKISTAN, LONG LIVE PML N, LONG LIVE NAWAZ SHARIF, PAKISTAN ZINDABAD
This absconder has very deep pockets. He managed to get off the hook with the law, got PML-N ticket, fulfilled requirements of 62-63, and now forces 22 candidates to be summoned only to give him a free pass. The question is, has he filed an FIR against his lawyer for falsifying his statement? What’s shameful is the obvious tilt of the two ECP members towards the N-league, for going over the board to please their masters. More shameful is the role of PML-N to award this absconder a party ticket.
yes he has been involved in shaddy bissiness , but remember who else , in politics hasnt been... PTI trolls this is politics , a dirty bussiness even in US n UK (read Guardian and NY times to acertain the dissapointments of their liberal section of pop , with Obama esp) , not professorship in a university that demands a clean character. and importantly he has never been convicted by the court of law....he is possibly the first and only candidate in the history of islamabad's electoral pilitics who has his personal vote in the rural areas (20-25%) of the constituency, this makes him formidable for his all opponents , he even defeated hashmi from his areas like tarnol and gorla.. Bye elections have low turn out so wait n see ur hero Asad Umar given a sore backside by him or any pml-n candidate .....
this guy was involved in corruption case worth 6 billion in national police foundation...no doubt he is pml n candidate...et could improve its reporting by telling little more history of corruption
All this is making Asad Umars task much easier.
if this guy won, it will be a slap on to the face of those who want to see Pakistan corruption free...
These kind of people voted for PMLN to put Pakistan's existence on risk.
This absconder has very deep pockets. He managed to get off the hook with the law, got PML-N ticket, fulfilled requirements of 62-63, and now forces 22 candidates to be summoned only to give him a free pass. The question is, has he filed an FIR against his lawyer for falsifying his statement?