June 11, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 06, 1429

RAWALPINDI, June 10: A returning officer (RO) here on Tuesday dismissed the application of a candidate for PP-10, seeking disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League-N president Shahbaz Sharif after he took oath as Punjab chief minister.

The RO dismissed the application of Shahid Majeed Orakzai, the only candidate contesting the June 26 by-election against Mr Sharif in the constituency, on technical grounds, saying that he could only announce the results of the constituency when the elections are held or all candidates except one withdrew their nomination papers.

Mr Orakzai contended that the election commission should be informed of the “disqualification” of the PML-N president as, the petitioner added, being the Punjab CM he could not contest general elections under Section 7, Article 224 of the Constitution and that in the absence of any other contestants the applicant should be declared the returned candidate.

He also argued that under Section 3 of Article 223, a member of the provincial or national assembly could contest elections only when he resigns from his already occupied seat. A member of the assembly cannot hold two seats and he has to vacate one of the seats before taking oath in the assembly, Mr Orakzai pleaded.

The RO set aside the application, saying the question raised by the petitioner could not be taken up by him as, he added, it was not the proper legal forum to decide a constitutional matter.

Meanwhile, the electioneering is in full swing in two other National Assembly seats of NA-52 Rawalpindi-III and NA 55 Rawalpindi-VI, which were won and vacated by two PML-N leaders, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Makhdoom Javaid Hashmi respectively.

An interesting contest is expected in NA 52 between PML-N candidate Safdar Mehmood, son-in-law of Mian Nawaz Sharif, and Muhammad Nasir Raja, district president PML.