NA-133 by-election: New LHC bench to hear Cheema's petition

LAHORE: A new bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) will hear and decide petitions by PTI leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his wife Musarrat Cheema challenging the rejection of their nomination papers for NA-133 (Lahore) by-election.

The bench comprising Justice Shujaat Ali Khan and Justice Faisal Zaman will hear the case. LHC chief justice reconstituted the bench after Justice Shahid Waheed himself from the case.

Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his wife approached the LHC after an election tribunal dismissed their appeal against the returning officer’s (RO) decision to reject their nomination papers.

The petitioners pleaded with the high court to set aside the rejection of their papers and allow them to contest the by-election scheduled for Dec 5.

On Nov 5, the tribunal comprising LHC Justice Shahid Jameel dismissed the appeals after hearing arguments from the lawyers representing the petitioners, the PML-N  and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

It is pertinent to mention here that the returning officer (RO) had rejected the nomination papers of Cheema and his wife Musarrat (his covering candidate) on the ground that the proposers and seconders for the two are not residents of the constituency as required under the relevant election laws.

Cheema’s lawyer stated before the tribunal that the votes of the proposers and seconders were transferred from NA-133 to some other constituency.

“Where did the proposers and seconders cast their vote in the previous election?” the tribunal asked the counsel, to which the latter replied that their votes were registered in this constituency at that time, but it has now been bifurcated.