NA-122 inquiry: Rigging claims baseless, says PML-N lawyer

LAHORE:

An election tribunal investigating alleged rigging in the NA-122 constituency adjourned the hearing on Saturday for June 30.

Counsel for Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the winning candidate from the constituency, continued his final arguments on Saturday.

Barrister Asjad Saeed said that allegations levelled by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) were baseless. “Their claims have nothing to do with reality. There is no substantial evidence available to establish rigging in the election,” he said. The counsel said that the petition filed by PTI chief Imran Khan was not maintainable.

At the previous hearing, the PTI counsel had concluded his arguments. Advocate Anees Ali Hashmi had said that around 45,000 votes were invalid. “There is a difference between the number of votes declared invalid by the Election Commission and the NADRA,” he said. “All votes issued against incorrect CNIC numbers are invalid,” he said. Earlier, the NADRA had submitted a supplementary report, stating that 5,898 (96.7 per cent) votes out of 6,123 could be valid.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2015.