LAHORE, Feb 29: Punjab Assembly member Haroon Akhtar Khan says his membership is neither an undue favour nor because he belongs to the ruling Muslim League but owing to a prolonged legal battle which he won on merit.

"I feel proud that I have succeeded in eliminating from the rolls of the Punjab Assembly a person who committed a fraud and remained present in the august house on the basis of a bogus academic degree for abut 17 months", Haroon Akhtar said in a press statement on Sunday.

An election tribunal, comprising Justice Mian Hamid Farooq of the Lahore High Court, unseated PML-N PMA Sheikh Amjad Aziz and declared petitioner Haroon Akhtar Khan as having been elected from PP-156, Lahore, on Feb 16.

In his election petition, Mr Khan challenged the Bachelor's degree Sheikh Amjad Aziz had presented to the returning officer at the time of filing nomination papers. The Election Commission of Pakistan notified Haroon Akhtar as an MPA the following day canceling the notification of Mr Aziz issued on Oct 20, 2002.