26 October 2004	Tuesday	11 Ramazan 1425

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LAHORE, Oct 25: An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court has sought a reply from Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on a petition challenging his election as member of the National Assembly.

Justice Syed Zahid Husain on Monday issued a notice to the prime minister to submit a reply on Nov 22.

Engineer Mohammad Jameel, who contested against Mr Aziz from the NA-59, Attock, in the August byelection, submitted that Mr Aziz was holding the office of the federal finance minister when he contested the bypolls which was in sheer violation of the constitution.

He stated he had on July 17 raised an objection to Mr Aziz's filing of the papers on the plea that he was not a Pakistani national. Again on July 17, he had pleaded to the Election Commission not to allot an election symbol to Mr Aziz, but to no avail.

The petitioner alleged that the Attock Nazim and other government officials openly ran the election campaign of Shaukat Aziz. He also alleged rigging at as many as 253 polling stations.

He also accused Mr Aziz of concealing the actual volume of immovable assets of his mother in Pakistan. He said Mr Aziz had not declared the assets abroad which were of billions of rupees.

The engineer alleged that Mr Aziz was allowed to contest the election in violation of the law. He prayed that the Election Commission's Aug 20 notification declaring Mr Aziz elected as MNA from NA-59 may be declared without lawful authority.

ADJOURNED: Another election tribunal adjourned the review petition of Amjad Aziz against his disqualification from a Punjab Assembly seat.

Justice Mian Hamid Farooq put off the hearing because the counsel from both the sides could not turn up.

Amjad Aziz had submitted that he was elected MPA from a Lahore constituency on PML-N ticket. Haroon Akhtar, the defeated candidate, filed an election petition against him and an election tribunal disqualified him for not having a BA degree.

He said now the Punjab University had issued him the BA degree, and the tribunal may review its orders.