LAHORE, June 5: An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Thursday directed PML-Q MNA Sardar Talib Nakai to file his reply to a petition challenging his election.

The tribunal observed that the respondent had not yet filed his reply to the petition and gave him a week for the purpose.

Petitioner Rana Hayat Khan, who lost to Sardar Talib by a margin of 2,893 votes, had challenged the latter’s win on the grounds that the former had a loan of Rs500.71 million written off which he obtained in the name of Hamid Textile Mills.

He contended that under Section 12(c) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1976, any candidate who had loans written off in excess of Rs200,000 was not eligible to contest the elections.

According to the petitioner, Sardar Talib was holding 888,206 shares (69.35 per cent) and thus a major shareholder. He claimed that the respondent did not mention this fact in his nomination papers and had violated the relevant election rules.

The petitioner submitted that though following rejection of his nomination papers by the returning officer concerned, the LHC allowed the respondent to contest the elections, yet it did not absolve him of his liability for paying off the loan.

He also accused Nakai of using unfair means to win elections. He claimed that Talib’s brother-in-law Sardar Asif Nakai and Rana Sarfraz Ahmad Khan snatched eight books of ballot papers from two polling stations. Later, an FIR was lodged by the SHO against unidentified people on the orders of the returning officer.