Jamshed Cheema case: Second LHC bench recuses from case

LAHORE: Another division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday declined to hear the writ petitions of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's candidate for NA-133 (Lahore) by-poll, Jamshed Cheema, and his wife, the covering candidate, against the rejection of their nomination papers. The petitions came up for hearing before the bench comprising Justice Shujaat Ali Khan and Justice Faisal Zaman Khan. However, the bench recused itself from the matter for personal reasons.

Previously, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Shahid Waheed had also recused itself from the petitions. Now the petitions have been fixed for hearing on Tuesday (today) before a division bench comprising Justice Jawad Hassan and Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabbir.

Talking to the media at the high court, Cheema said he was really disappointed with the court’s procedure. He complained that his case had been subjected to delay. The returning officer had rejected the nomination papers of the petitioners on the basis that their proposer was not a registered voter of the constituency they wanted to contest from. They challenged the decision before the election tribunal, which also dismissed their appeal and upheld the rejection of the papers.

The PMLN voters had challenged the nomination papers of the PTI candidates, saying the proposer, Bilal Hussain, was not qualified to subscribe the papers of the duo under the Elections Act, 2017. Lahore's constituency had fallen vacant because of the death of PMLN MNA Pervez Malik. The ECP announced by-poll in the constituency to fill the vacancy on Dec 5 and the PMLN announced the late MNA's widow Shaista Pervez Malik as its candidate.