MULTAN: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Rai Hasan Nawaz elected from the NA-162 constituency in Cheecha Watni was disqualified by an election tribunal in Multan over non-disclosure of assets.

Sources say Hasan Nawaz is in possession of assets worth Rs870 million, including a petrol pump, a Compressed Natural Gas pump, various properties rented by banks, a series of stores on GT Road near his Multan residence, a 36 kanal property on top of which Rai Iqbal Town is built and a Toyota Corolla car.

In addition, during his stint as managing director at Murtaza Haseeb Textile Mills Ltd., Nawaz took loans under his servant's and sister-in-law's names. Both claim they have not taken any such loans.

PML-N's Haji Muhammad Ayub had presented reports related to Hasan Nawaz's assets before the election tribunal during case proceedings which had commenced at the time Rai Hasan Nawaz was elected.

However, Hasan Nawaz would not attend hearings citing poor health and the case was delayed.

After a hearing today, the tribunal disqualified him from the seat.

The tribunal ordered re-election within 90 days for the seat and has imposed a lifetime ban on Rai Hasan Nawaz from contesting general elections.

Read more: SC suspends election tribunal verdict on NA-125, PP-155

The decision follows in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to suspend the de-seating of MNA Saad Rafique, who had earlier been de-notified from his NA-125 seat due to evidence of rigging in the constituency found by the election tribunal during investigations.

The tribunal's one-page verdict said that ballot bags had been opened with a sharp object and records had been tampered with. It also found that on average, each person had cast six votes each.

Because the evidence was merely circumstantial, and 'failed to prove rigging', the tribunal's decision to order re-elections for NA-125 was suspended by a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.

In his plea to the apex court, Rafique contended that the election tribunal's decision did not explicitly state that he was involved in rigging, and that the tribunal's decision pinpointed only seven polling stations as showing discrepancies ─ and these polling stations were not linked to him.

The apex court subsequently suspended the tribunal's decision for re-election in NA-125 and PP-155 constituencies and accepted Rafique's petition for hearing.

Read more: I'm being punished for Returning Officers' failure: Saad Rafique