ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the elections for the seat of Jhang tehsil nazim (Punjab) and the Kharan district nazim (Balochistan) to be held on Thursday.

In the case of Jhang, a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice M. Javed Buttar and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed stayed the election of Jhang tehsil nazim on the petition of Sheikh Mohammad Akram.

Advocate General Punjab Aftab Iqbal was also directed by the court to substantiate whether petitioner Sheikh Mohammad Akram was the owner of the Shalimar Transport Company.

The petitioner has challenged before the apex court the Lahore High Court’s order of rejecting the petitioner’s nomination papers on the grounds that he concealed his income from the Shalimar Transport Company while filing his candidacy.

While granting leave to the appeal, the court stayed the elections to examine whether the high court had rightly interfered in its concurrent findings of facts recorded by the Returning Officer (RO) and the District Returning Officer (DRO) while rejecting the papers.

Senior Advocate Hafiz Pirzada, while representing the petitioner, vehemently argued that the transport business was registered in the name of his daughter, Ms Afshan Shahid, besides the property in question called the Vicky Hotel was just a plot and not a hotel.

“There is no entity like the Vicky Hotel and the plot is used only as a bus terminal,” he contended.

He also argued that the case of Mohammad Akram was on a stronger footing on the principle laid down by the court in the Lt Gen (retd) Majeed Malik case and that the high court’s judgment was irrational.

Meanwhile, a separate bench comprising Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Shakirullah Jan stayed the elections of Kharan district nazim by accepting the appeal of Ahmed Nawaz.

Senior Advocate Iftikhar Gillani, who represented the petitioner, told the court that his client was elected as Kharan Union Council nazim, but since the Kharan district had been divided into Kharan and Washuk his name was listed in Washuk instead of Kharan where he lived.

Both the RO and DRO have accepted his plea but the Balochistan High Court on the petition of his opponent, Mir Abdul Kareem, rejected his nomination papers.

The court after hearing the arguments stayed the elections and adjourned the matter for November.

The court also directed to inform the Election Commission about the stay.