LAHORE, Sept 8: The Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed in limine the election petitions against the return of two MNAs and four MPAs to the legislature on technical grounds.

Justice Syed Zahid Hussain disallowed the petitions challenging the election of Advocate Chaudhry Imranullah (NA-95, Gujranwala), Mehdi Hassan Bhatti (NA-102, Hafizabad), Syed Hassan Murtaza (PP-74, Chiniot), Dr Sohail Zafar Cheema (PP-99, Gujranwala), Abid Hussain Chatha (PP-168, Sheikhupura) and Wilayat Shah (PP-220, Sahiwal).

According to the petitioners, the winning candidates were not qualified to contest the Oct 10 general elections under the prevalent law for filing fake graduation degrees, improper disclosure of personal assets in the nomination papers and other technical flaws hindering their valid nomination.

Justice Hussain observed that none of the petitioners had followed the procedure laid down in Section 55 (3) of the Representation of People’s Act (ROPA) 1976, regarding the verification of an election petition by an oath commissioner or any other authorized person.

The court rejected the petitioners’ argument that requirement of Section 55 (3) was not mandatory in nature. Rather it was more of a direction and non-compliance to this section would not render the petitions unfit for further hearing.

It ruled that since the consequences for non-compliance to Section 55 (3) had been mentioned as a disqualification in Section 63 of the ROPA, therefore, the court could not take a lenient view in this regard.