MULTAN City News

Mixed response to SC order on NA-154
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: Politics takes a turn in NA-154 after the Supreme Court stayed the by-election and restored the status quo as before the election tribunal verdict.
The PML-N workers have welcomed the Supreme Court judgment, while other political parties declare the stay was a result of mutual understanding between the PTI and the PML-N. The PML-N district president, Bilal Butt, welcomed the stay order and said the PML-N would win the seat, if the by-poll was held.
This is not a permanent stay as the apex court has issued an interim order and summoned the record, lawyers said.
A senior member of the PTI legal team Mian Azhar Salim Kamlana told The News that it was not the sort of stay as the majority of people misunderstood it. The court had only issued interim stay till the next date for hearing, he said.
Talking to this scribe, the PAT candidate from NA-154 Khawaja Amir Farid Koreja said the stay was a result of mutual understanding between the PML-N and the PTI. He said PTI candidate Jehangir Tareen’s lawyers did not argue case and provided an ample opportunity in favour of stay.
The election tribunal had disqualified Baloch for his lifetime for violating articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution by submitting a fake degree. He was disqualified under Section 76 of the Representation of the People’s Act. The tribunal had declared the NA-154 election null and void on the Nadra report, which mentioned the use of 20,600 fake CNICs in the elections.
Baloch had won the election by obtaining 86,177 out of the total 235,938 votes polled in the 2013 general elections, while Tareen bagged 75,955 votes with PML-N candidate Rafiquddin Bukhari obtaining 45,635 votes. The turnout was 67.4 per cent.
Later, Tareen had filed a petition for recounting of votes. The district returning officer conducted the recounting after which Baloch’s lead was increased by 1,000 votes. But Tareen also rejected the recounting and filed a petition in the Election Tribunal, stating that the election was rigged. He also challenged the academic degree of his opponent.
The election tribunal reserved the judgment on the last hearing on August 22 and fixed August 26 for the announcement of the verdict and disqualified Baloch on fake degree for lifetime. He challenged the verdict before the Supreme Court and finally got the stay on by-election schedule.
The PML-N had issued party ticket to Baloch’s son Umair Baloch who was hurriedly called from Australia where he was studying in Computer Sciences.
The PML-N old guards, former lawmakers and ticket holders in Lodhran announced to support the PTI in the NA-154 by-elections.
The development comes amidst increasing rifts in the PML-N ranks as former MNA Akhtar Khan Kanju accused the party of ignoring his group persistently. Kanju said he and his supporters would play an important role in the defeat of the PML-N candidate.