LAHORE: The returning officer for by-poll in NA-122 accepted on Tuesday nomination papers of Ayaz Sadiq of the PML-N and Abdul Aleem Khan of the PTI after rejecting objections raised on their candidature.

The RO also accepted papers of Shoaib Siddiqui, a PTI candidate from PP-147. He observed that complainants had failed to prove their allegations against the candidates.

Complainants objected that the election tribunal while cancelling the NA-122 result had imposed a Rs2.5m fine on Sadiq, which he did not pay. The objections were contested from the other side.

RO Zahid Iqbal observed the tribunal had not disqualified Sadiq on the basis of corruption. He noted the decision regarding a penalty of Rs2.5m was sub judice before the Supreme Court.

In case of Aleem Khan, the RO said the complainants failed to prove their allegations. It was alleged that many cases were pending in courts against Khan on land grab charges.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2015

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