Home Latest News PMLN to Challenge NA-125 Re-polling

PMLN to Challenge NA-125 Re-polling

by AFP
Aamir Qureshi—AFP

Aamir Qureshi—AFP

Planning minister says party will contest tribunal decision before Supreme Court.

Pakistan’s ruling party said Wednesday it would challenge an election tribunal that unseated the railways minister over alleged irregularities in the 2013 general elections.

Khawaja Saad Rafique won the NA-125 seat in Lahore with a majority of nearly 40,000 as the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) swept to a landslide victory in May 2013. But the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by former cricket star Imran Khan, has claimed widespread fraud tainted the poll which made Nawaz Sharif prime minister for a third time.

“Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government has decided to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court,” planning minister Ahsan Iqbal told reporters.

Rafique’s PTI rival Hamid Khan, who came second in NA-125, had filed a petition against the election result. The tribunal on Monday ruled in favor of Khan and ordered a fresh poll in his constituency

The PTI has waged a national campaign calling for the investigation into allegations of rigging and staged a 126-day sit-in protest in front of Parliament last year. The party says results were changed in at least four constituencies—including Rafique’s—through fraud.

Pakistan last month formed a nationwide judicial commission under the Supreme Court chief justice to investigate rigging in elections throughout the country. The commission has asked political parties to provide evidence and is due to start examining witnesses later this week.

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