LAHORE: A two-judge Supreme Court bench on Monday dismissed as infructuous a petition of Federal Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique against an interim order of the election tribunal about verification of voters thumb impressions of 100 polling stations in his NA-125 constituency.
The bench was told that the petition became fruitless as the tribunal had already rendered its judgement in the case and an appeal against that decision was also pending adjudication before the apex court. At this the bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar dismissed the petition for being infructuous.
Hamid Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had challenged the victory of the minister before the election tribunal on charges of rigging. The tribunal had nullified the result of the constituency and ordered by-election.
However, the Supreme Court had suspended the order on appeal of the minister.
Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015