ISLAMABAD: The election tribunal of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday approved for hearing a petition of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Senate hopeful Pervaiz Rashid against the rejection of his papers.
On Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected Rashid’s nomination for the Upper House for being a defaulter of the Punjab government.
During the proceedings on Monday, the counsel for Rashid, Azam Nazir Tarar, informed the court that the returning officer (RO) had rejected his client’s papers for Senate elections.
The ECP had told Rashid that he was a defaulter of the Punjab House in Islamabad and his nomination would be accepted only after he cleared the dues.
Tarar said Rashid was issued a notice from Punjab House to clear the amount. However, when he tried to pay the money, the authorities refused to take it.
At this, Justice Shahid Waheed questioned why the dues were not paid earlier. As per Supreme Court’s decisions, the dues can be cleared at any time, Tarar replied.
Subsequently, the tribunal issued notice to the ECP and directed the Punjab House management to attend Tuesday’s hearing and bring along the relevant record.
In December 2018, the Punjab government had released a list of 76 politicians, bureaucrats and others for defaulting on the payment for their stay and meals at Punjab House during the tenure of the PML-N government.
Per the list, Rashid owed Rs7.05 million, including Rs0.69 million charges for his stay between January and August 2011 and Rs6.4 million from June 2013 to May 2018.
His daughter, Poonam Rashid, also owed Rs2.7 million.
