Printing of ballot papers stopped in two constituencies after court verdict

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has stopped printing of ballot papers for two constituencies – NA-127 Lahore and NA-14 Mansehra –after yesterday’s court ruling in the Avenfield case. 

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar were contesting the polls from NA-127 and NA-1, respectively.

The ECP has now directed respective returning officers to review changes in the ballot papers in time.

An accountability court on Friday sentenced Sharif to a total of 10 years in prison and directed him to pay a fine of £8 million after finding him guilty on different charges in the Avenfield properties case.

Judge Muhammad Bashir found Mr. Sharif guilty of accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.

He handed out seven-year imprisonment to the former premier’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and a fine of £2 million. She has been awarded an additional one year’s imprisonment on charges of using Calibri font to fabricate Avenfield properties trust deeds.

Moreover, the judge ordered confiscation of the Sharif family’s London properties in question in the case.

Four members of the Sharif family ─ Nawaz, Maryam, Hasan and Hussain ─ who have been named in the case – are in London, while Captain Safdar is in Pakistan, but didn’t appear in court to hear the verdict.

The judge earlier rejected an application filed by the former prime minister seeking a seven-day postponement of the verdict.