MANSEHRA: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan People’s Party have begun legal proceedings against their five councillors over floor crossing for the installation of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz district government in Mansehra.

“Besides issuing show cause notices to them, we’ve launched legal formalities for the unseating of four councillors, who either crossed the floor and voted for the rival party’s contenders or remained absent from the election session of the district council,” Shafahat Ali, PTI candidate for the district nazim’s office, told reporters on Monday.

Ali had lost to rival and PML-N contender Said Ghulam by five votes in elections held on Sunday.

According to him, Senator Azam Khan Swati’s nephew Shaharyar Khan, who was elected from Oghi tehsil, and Uzma Baseer and Saeed Luqman Gill, who were elected on seats reserved for women and minorities respectively, had voted for the PML-N candidate against the party’s policy, while PTI councillor Urooj Kaleem, who was elected on seats reserved for women, remained absent during the election.

He said show cause notices were served on all the four councillors to clarify position and that they would be unseated in line with the law.

The PTI candidate said the party had filed applications with the convener of the district council, returning officer and Election Commission of Pakistan for necessary action under the Local Government Ordinance 2015.

He said workers were opposed to Senator Azam Khan Swati due to his anti-PTI politics, which led to the party’s defeat in the local body elections.

“Our party has suffered defeat in the nazim elections but if truth be told, our ideology and politics of change has won as those playing politics of personal interests and crime stand exposed in front of the people and party leadership,” he said.

Ali said Azam Swati had hatched a conspiracy against him in connivance with PML-N MNA Mohammad Safdar.

“Azam Swati and his brother Laiq Mohammad Khan, father of Shaharyar Khan, has promoted the politics of drawing room and status quo,” he said.

The PTI candidate praised PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami for supporting him in nazim elections.

Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party has also issued show cause notice to its councillor, Babar Bahadur Gori, who elected on a seat reserved for minorities, for voting for PML-N candidate during the district nazim and naib nazim elections.

PPP district president Malik Farooq told reporters here that applications had been sent to the district council convener, returning officer and Election Commission of Pakistan for the unseating of the councillor.

Also in the day, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl served a show-cause notice on its three councillors, who had committed floor crossing in Torghar district and voted for PTI candidates.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play