LAHORE: Hearing a petition of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan alleging rigging in NA-122 of Lahore, the election tribunal on Monday directed the petitioner to produce his witnesses for cross-examination.

Imran Khan alleged that National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq rigged the 2013 election.

The tribunal member, Kazim Ali Malik, also warned both parties of imposing fine if any of them sought adjournments. The tribunal observed that the case would be decided without any undue delay.

The tribunal adjourned hearing for Nov 29 with direction to the petitioner to produce his witnesses.

It observed that the petitioner could also appear on next hearing if he wanted to record his statement first.

INSPECTION:The returning officer (RO) of NA-122, Shahida Saeed, turned down a request of Imran Khan’s counsel against inspection of whole record of the National Assembly constituency.

The counsel stated that only PTI chief sought scrutiny of the record challenging victory of Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of PML-N. Therefore, he said there was no need to inspect record of other candidates.

However, the RO rejected the plea and issued fresh notices to all other candidates of NA-122 for Nov 25.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had ordered inspection of the election record allowing an application of Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014