Rigging: Final arguments sought on NA-125 petition

LAHORE:

An election tribunal on Saturday sought final arguments on a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Hamid Khan alleging electoral rigging in NA-125 by April 11 after recording statements of two provincial assembly members from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The tribunal recorded MPAs Mian Naseer and Yasin Sohail. The parliamentarians told the court that Khan had filed the petition on mere speculations. They said election in NA-125 was free and fair.

The judge then asked lawyers of both parties to come up with final arguments by April 11.

Earlier, the tribunal had compiled a report on 10 polling stations in NA-125 and had had discovered that Form XIV was missing from eight polling stations. Polling bags were also found unsealed and without counterfoils.

In a previous hearing, Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq had said the PTI had failed to prove their allegations.

He said the PTI had not objected to the result within 40 hours of polling. He said PTI’s polling agents were present at all polling stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2015.