September 20, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Sept 19: Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench here on Friday dismissed an election petition of former Punjab chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who was no more interested in the prosecution.

Mr Elahi had challenged the election results in NA-61 Chakwal, the constituency where Sardar Faiz Mohammad Tamman of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) defeated him with 432 votes.

Initial results of the February 18 general elections revealed that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi got 91,769 votes while his contender got 92,201 votes.

Mr Elahi then submitted an application before the retuning officer for recounting of the votes. According to the defence lawyer Malik Mohammad Kabir advocate, Faiz Tamman’s lead increased after the recount.

The petitioner then applied before the LHC for by-election, saying that the counting of “rejected votes” was not done in a proper way. The petitioner had prayed to the court that the election in NA-61 may be declared as null and void and directions be issued for by-polls. The LHC, however, later dismissed the petition for non-prosecution.

In another case, Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq issued notices to the Ministry of Local Government Punjab and District Coordination Officer (DCO) Attock in a case filed by District Nazim Tahir Sadiq.

Mr Sadiq, in his petition filed before the court, submitted that the provincial government was unnecessarily interfering in the affairs of the district government that was against the Local Government Ordinance (LGO).

The petitioner also contended before the court that they received a letter from the DCO suggesting that they had to pass new development projects in consultation with the local MNAs and MPAs, and to take approval of all the development works from the respective DCO. The petitioner stated that development work was the responsibility of the district administration and that particular letter was in violation to the LGO.

“To pass and approve the developments is only prerogative of the district councils and the Punjab government has been violating the law and trying to change then with mere administrative orders,” the petitioner said.