MULTAN: PML-N MNA Chaudhry Arif Husain, elected from NA-144, Okara, was disqualified by an election tribunal here on Friday for holding a fake degree.

Independent candidate Fayaz Ahmed Ghauri had submitted an application to the tribunal challenging the MNA’s intermediate degree.

Ghauri told the tribunal that Husain’s FA degree, issued by the Lahore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), that he had submitted for elections was proved bogus and he had been disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to contest as a provincial lawmaker.

“For the 2013 general elections, Husain submitted an FA degree issued by the Larkana BISE that is also bogus. The MNA should be disqualified from the National Assembly seat for possessing a bogus degree,” he had requested the tribunal.

After his degree was proved bogus, the tribunal disqualified the MNA and directed the election commission to conduct re-election in the constituency.

According to the ECP, Husain had bagged 105,162 votes against Shafeeqa Begum of the PPP-Parliamentarians, who bagged 36,723 votes. There were 293,394 registered voters in the constituency at that time.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2015

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