June 25, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 20, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 24: An appeal before the Supreme Court by the government against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification from contesting the June 26 by-election, which was supposed to be filed on Tuesday, has been delayed for a day due to procedural limitations.

“Now a civil petition for leave to appeal against the Lahore High Court order of barring Nawaz Sharif from the coming by-election will be moved before the apex court on Wednesday,” deputy attorney-general Raja Abdur Rehman told Dawn on Tuesday.

There is likelihood that the appeal after filing will be taken up by the Supreme Court the same day as the apex court will also be requested through a separate application to hear the matter urgently.

The delay occurred because the certified copies of the impugned judgment of the high court reached Islamabad in the evening, much after the Supreme Court time was over.

While deciding the petitions of Syed Khurram Shah, a voter, and Noor Elahi, an independent candidate, the LHC had disallowed Nawaz Sharif from contesting by-election for National Assembly seat NA-123 but kept pending a separate petition against the candidature of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif till an election tribunal decided about his nomination.

The decision sparked countrywide protest and even Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had to say in the National Assembly that he felt sorry over the disqualification and that the government would file appeal against the decision.

The competent authority (federal government) has asked, Raja Abdur Rehman said, to get the order of the high court set aside from the Supreme Court.

Therefore, the government will be asking the apex court not only to suspend the disqualification but also postpone the June 26 by-elections.