LAHORE, Aug 14: The ruling PML has sent two letters to the Chief Election Commissioner seeking 'appropriate action' against opposition leaders who have involved themselves in 'corrupt practices' , as defined in Section 78 of the Representation of People Act, 1976, by making baseless allegations against Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is contesting by-elections on NA-59 (Attock) and NA-229 (Tharparkar).

The leaders the ruling party wants proceeded against include Dr Sikandar Hayat (opposition candidate from the Attock seat), Senator Raza Rabbani, Siddiqul Farooq, MNA Fauzia Wahab, Lal Bakhsh Bhutto and Rukhsana Zubairi.

"These people are using the platform of the Election Commission for their malicious campaign. The pattern is that letters are addressed to the Election Commission and then released to the press for publicity.

The campaign is clearly intended to damage the candidacy of Mr Shaukat Aziz and cause him prejudice," the letters said, explaining the prime minister-designate's position on the allegations with respect to both the constituencies.

The letters have been delivered to the Election Commission.

About allegation that Mr Aziz could not contest the election while continuing as finance minister, a letter said there was no bar on a minister to contest the election. "In fact, there is no such practice in any recognized parliamentary system in the world, such as the UK, India, Canada or Australia."

On the allegation that the law allowing holding of public office and party office at the same time was intended to help Mr Aziz, the letter said it was false as there "is no nexus between the law and the by-election".

The letter also rejected the allegation that party symbol - bicycle - was wrongly allotted to Mr Aziz. It pointed out that the Election Commission had recognized the unified Pakistan Muslim League as a party. It was only then, the letter said, that an application was made for the allocation of party symbol to Mr Aziz. The request was granted. It also refuted the allegation that Mr Aziz had concealed details of his assets.

Mr Aziz, the letter said, had 'faithfully', given details of his assets as on June 30 last year. The accounts for the year ending June 30, 2004, will be due on Sept 30.

"The important thing is that all assets have been disclosed and may be scrutinized by all authorities, including the Election Commission."

Referring to the allegations that 47 polling stations in NA-229 had been declared sensitive to influence the voters, the other letter said that as a matter of fact the step had been taken on the recommendation of the district and sessions judge.

The Sindh chief minister, the letter said, had taken some measures for fair distribution of canal water to the tail-enders and to maintain law and order.