NA-154 by-polls: LHC cancels PML-N candidate's nomination papers
MULTAN: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Multan bench on Thursday ordered cancellation of nomination papers of Siddique Khan Baloch for NA-154 by-election candidature.
Iffat Tahira Soomro, an independent candidate from the constituency, had pleaded before the court that she had filed an application with the Returning Officer (RO), objecting Baloch's nomination papers for contesting the by-elections to be held on December 23 in Lodhran, NA-154 constituency.
She pleaded that the RO ruled-out her objection on November 27.
Tahira Soomro informed the court that the documents of candidature were incorrect since the PML-N leader had not declared his "actual assets" in the papers.
She requested the court to cancel nomination papers of Siddique Baloch on these grounds.
In August, Punjab election tribunal's commission deseated PML-N leader Siddique Khan Baloch from the said constituency and ordered re-election in the constituency against alleged rigging in NA-154 during the 2013 general elections.
Read more: Election tribunal orders re-election in NA-154, deseats PML-N lawmaker
The tribunal’s detailed judgement said the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on its direction had reported a failure to authenticate the thumb impressions of 179 voters in the constituency.
However, in September, the Supreme Court suspended the tribunal's decision to deseat Baloch and its order of re-election in NA-154.
The SC in its final verdict on October 28 had ordered re-polling in NA-154 constituency (Lodhran) while suspending the tribunal verdict of declaring PML-N's Baloch 'ineligible' to contest elections.
Read: NA-154: SC declares Siddique's election void, orders re-polling
The PML-N lawmaker who contested the 2013 poll as an independent candidate and later joined the PML-N, was deseated when the tribunal set aside his election on a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) central organiser Jahangir Khan Tareen.
The division bench on Thursday reserved the verdict after hearing about Siddique Baloch's tax returns and assets details and later announced a short verdict.
The detailed verdict would be announced later.
Last month, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that the much awaited by-polls in the NA-154 constituency will be held on December 23.