RAWALPINDI, Sept 22: The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench has admitted a writ petition challenging the election of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) held on September 3. Dr Tariq Masood Khan Niazi of the Rawalpindi General Hospital, who stood for a PMDC slot, has filed the writ in which president and secretary of the council, federal secretary health, a senior member of the election committee and others have been made respondents.

Counsel for the petitioner Syed Asghar Ali Shirazi contended before the court that large-scale irregularities had been committed in the election.

Justice Sakhi Hussain Bukhari, after hearing arguments of the counsel, issued notices to the respondents to submit para-wise comments.

The petitioner pleaded that postal ballots totalling about 600 were not included in the vote count. Another big irregularity, he claimed, was that only valid registered medical practitioners (RMP) were allowed to cast ballot. “This deprived about 24,000 RMPs of casting their votes.”

A valid RMP is the member PMDC who gets registered with the council and regularly renews his membership, whereas the simple RMP is the one who once registered with the doctors’ body has not renewed his membership.

According to the PMDC rules and regulations, being valid RMP is necessary for candidacy in the PMDC election but not for casting vote, he argued.