Mirpur polls: Court allows petition against by-election

MUZAFFARABAD:

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court (AJKHC) on Friday allowed a petition against the Mirpur by-election.

The petition was filed by Advocate Raja Muhammad Hanif on behalf of Raja Naheeb, an independent candidate for LA-3 Mirpur.

A full bench headed by AJKHC Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal allowed the petition and the first hearing will be held on March 24. The bench also directed the AJK election commissioner to appear in court on the same date.

The petitioner, in his application, mentioned that he had approached the Election Commission of Pakistan to delimit LA-3 Mirpur as hundreds of voters of the constituency had moved from the area and had settled in LA-4 Mirpur.

The Chief Election Commission was asked for the delimitation of the constituency of LA-3 Mirpur to ensure complete participation of voters who have been displaced during Mangla dam raising work and had settled in LA-4 Mirpur.

The AJK Election Commissioner had turned down the application for delimitation.

The petitioner demanded that the court cancel the Mirpur by-polls and postpone the election till the new delimitation of LA-3 Mirpur was carried out to ensure transparency.

By-elections in Mirpur are scheduled for March 29, with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Chadhry Ashraf, PTI AJK head Barrister Sultan and PML-N candidate Arshad Ghazi having gotten tickets from major parties.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2015.