December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Dec 10: An election tribunal here on Monday dismissed an appeal against a former federal minister and adjourned hearings in other election related petitions.

In the election petition Malik Muhammad Khalid had contested the educational qualification of former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, a PML candidate for NA-53 and PP-7.

The election tribunal comprising Justice Abdur Shakoor Paracha and Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain of the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, disposed of the appeal on the grounds of non-maintainability after the appellant withdrew his objection from one constituency.

The tribunal reserved its judgment till December 14 in a case of disqualification of Chaudhry Muhammad Saqlain, a candidate for NA-62 and PP-24 Jhelum and Shams Haider for PP-27 for alleged abuse of public money.

Former federal minister Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain raised the objections against the two independent candidates.

The tribunal issued notices to the respondent Raza Ahmad Shah, contesting elections from PP-14, asking him to submit relevant record on Dec 13 in response to the appeals of Asim Majeed, Raja Mehfooz and Imran Aslam regarding his educational qualification. Hearing in two separate appeals of Muhammad Azeem against Rizwan Sadiq of PML-Q and Mian Muhammad Aslam of MMA contesting elections from NA-48 Islamabad was also adjourned till Dec 12 with notices served on the respondents.

Hearing in the appeal of Asghar Ali Mubarik contesting elections from NA-54 was adjourned till Dec 11 while notices served on the respondents.