LHC rejects petition seeking Aleem Khan's disqualification

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday dismissed an election petition seeking disqualification of Punjab Senior Minister Aleem Khan for allegedly concealing necessary details in his nomination papers, ARY News reported.

The court rejected the petition filed by the runner-up in the PP-158 election, Rana Ahsan of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) against the victory of the PTI leader.

Aleem Khan had secured 52,319 votes against 45,229 votes bagged by his rival candidate.

The petitioner contended before the court that Mr Khan concealed details of his properties, tax particulars and inquiries pending against him in his nomination papers. The minister was a defaulter of RS9.3 million in terms of the Employees Old-Age Benefits (EOBI) funds, he alleged and added the inquiries had been pending against him before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency but he didn’t disclose them before the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He pleaded to the court to declare Mr Khan disqualified for holding a public under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

The PTI leader’s lawyer, however, refuted the charges leveled against his client, saying Mr Khan had revealed complete details of his assets, properties and tax returns in the nomination papers. He requested the court to dismiss the petition as his client had concealed no facts which could lead to his disqualification.