Eligibility: Plea to withdraw petition against Hassaan dismissed

Petitioner says he is not a voter from Hassaan’s UC

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday dismissed an application for the withdrawal of a petition challenging the qualification of Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan who had been elected unopposed as chairman of Union Council 107.

As Justice Shahid Karim took up the application, Masood Aziz, the petitioner, stated that he was not a voter from the UC. He said under the law, only voters in a UC could challenge election of members. He said he wanted to withdraw the petition.

His counsel Sheraz Zaka told the court that Aziz had filed the application without taking him into confidence. Citing judgements of superior courts, Zaka said the petitioner could not withdraw his application regarding disqualification of a candidate.

A government law officer argued that the petitioner was not an aggrieved party in the case. He said the main petition against Hassaan’s qualification was not maintainable.

Justice Karim, however, dismissed the application.

The judge has already reserved verdict in the main petition. Aziz had earlier claimed he was one of the voters in the UC. He had said that Hassaan had held public office and that he could not contest the local government elections for two years.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2015.