An independent candidate has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and requested the court to disqualify PML-N’s Shaista Pervez Malik and PPP’s Ch Muhammad Aslam Gill from contesting by-poll in NA-133 constituency, scheduled to be held on December 5 (Sunday), after they were found guilty of giving bribes to voters, Express Tribune reported on Thursday.
Through the petition, Sohail Shehzad questioned the conduct of the district monitoring officer of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and said the official just fined Rs20,000 each to PPP and PML-N candidates instead of ‘debarring or expelling’ them from the running in the by-election.
The petitioner said that the district monitoring officer did not exercise the powers vested in him but imposed just nominal fines on them. “The district monitoring officer also violated the provisions of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973,” he added.
He prayed the court that direction be passed to the district monitoring officer to disqualify the PML-N and PPP’s candidates from contesting the by-poll.
