BAHAWALPUR: An election tribunal headed by Chaudhry Abdul Hafiz, a retired district and sessions judge, on Friday accepted the petition of Ghulam Mustafa Khar and disqualified PML-N MNA Sultan Mahmood Hinjra in NA-176 (Muzaffargarh).

Khar, a defeated candidate, had filed the petition submitting that Sultan Hinjra did not qualify under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution therefore he should be disqualified.

The tribunal announced that re-election would be conducted in the constituency. Khar lost election as he could get 72,000 votes against Hinjra's final count of more than 84,000.

MUZAFFARGARH: The court decision of disqualifying Sultan Hinjra led to celebrations at Khar Gharbi, the home village of the veteran politician. A number of people gathered to felicitate him.

Khar's son Malik Abdul Rehman, a former provincial minister, told this correspondent over phone that his father had moved the tribunal after the general elections with evidence that Hinjra won the election in NA-176 through fake results manipulated by returning officers.

He said Khar also filed an application that the results of 18 polling stations where he had won were not added to the final results.

Hinjra, on the other hand, said he had no worries as he would move the Supreme Court against the verdict. He said he had won the election without any malpractice and it was in fact Bilal Mustafa Khar, who harassed the returning officer and the police registered a case against him. Bilal was arrested last month.

Published in Dawn, July 19th , 2014