LAHORE: Former National Assembly Speaker and PML-N leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq approached the Supreme Court against the election tribunal’s NA-122 case verdict which deseated him as the NA Speaker and parliamentarian.

In an appeal filed at the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry on Monday through counsel Khawaja Saeeduz Zafar, the former NA Speaker said “election tribunal's impugned order was against facts and relevant laws”.

Sadiq said the tribunal failed to decide the issue of maintainability of Imran Khan's election petition even after recording evidence despite his interim orders in this regard.

Know more: NA-122 election tribunal deseats Ayaz Sadiq, orders re-polling

He said the tribunal also failed to note that the election petition was not verified as mandated in Section 55 of Representation of Peoples Act (ROPA) 1976 and thus deserved to be dismissed under section 63 of the ROPA.

Ayaz Sadiq further said that the tribunal found no evidence of corrupt or illegal practices. “But despite it, the tribunal did not hold that no case had been made out”.

“The tribunal noted that a number of (alleged) procedural lapses on the part of polling staff but did not even attempt to determine how such lapses materially affected the election result. The tribunal could not therefore, declare the election to be void as a whole in terms of section 70 (1) of ROPA 1976,” he added.

The former lawmaker submitted that the impugned order was based on misreading and non-reading of relevant evidence, incorrect appreciation of the local commission report as well as NADRA reports and the law applicable in this regard.

He pleaded the court to set aside the verdict and dismiss Imran Khan's election petition with costs.

Punjab election commission's tribunal had ordered re-polling in NA-122, declaring the election in the constituency null and void – accepting PTI Chairman Imran Khan's petition challenging the 2013 election result.

National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had defeated Imran Khan in the 2013 general elections from NA-122 after which PTI had challenged the results.

NA-122 was among the four controversial constituencies — the other three being NA-110 (Sialkot), NA-125 (Lahore) and NA-154 (Lodhran) — where PTI had demanded for voters’ thumbprint verification in the hopes of finding a solution that might be acceptable to all concerned.

It is to be mentioned here that proceedings of Imran Khan’s petition remained suspended for a year. The Lahore High Court on Nov 4, 2013, had granted a stay to the NA speaker against the proceedings before the tribunal. The court on Nov 20, 2014, recalled the stay order and allowed the tribunal to proceed with the case.