LAHORE: The election of Prime Minster Imran Khan has been challenged before the Lahore High Court (LHC) on the plea that at least 69 members of the National Assembly abstained from voting and failed to participate in the formation of the federal government.

Sheikh Zahid Mahmood, a lawyer by profession, filed the petition through senior lawyer A.K. Dogar, pleading that it was mandatory under Article 91(4) of the Constitution that every member of the National Assembly must cast his/her vote to person(s) nominated for the election of prime minister.

The petitioner stated that two of the parliamentary parties, consisting 69 members, remained sitting in the assembly but abstained from voting and they had failed to perform their duty of participating in the establishment of the federal government. He pleaded that it could not be countenanced that some of the members might not vote yet they were counted as a part of the total membership of the assembly. He argued that the chosen representatives of the people could not abstain from casting their votes.

Mr Mahmood prayed to the court to declare that every member of the National Assembly must exercise his/her constitutional duty to take part in the voting for the leader of the house and chief executive of the state. He also urged the court to declare that Imran Khan had been elected as prime minister unconstitutionally due to absence of the votes of the total membership of the National Assembly.

The PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami have been made party in the petition in addition to the federal law ministry and PM Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2018