LAHORE: The district returning officer (DRO) of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) held a meeting with the contestants in the by-polls for the National Assembly constituency NA-133 here on Wednesday and told them to abide by the code of conduct at all costs.

In the meeting, also attended by representatives of security agencies, the DRO made it clear that any violation of the poll code during the electioneering and on the polling day (Dec 5) would not be tolerated.

The DRO issued summons to Aslam Garha and Mian Tariq, two supporters of Pakistan Peoples Party’s candidate for the NA-133 by-polls, Aslam Gill, on the allegations of indulging in vote buying.

Meanwhile, District Monitoring Officer Zahid Subhani imposed Rs20,000 fine on Mr Gill for repeated violations of the code of conduct. Mr Gill was given three days to deposit the amount with the treasury.

The officer had earlier imposed a similar amount of fine on PML-N candidate Shaista Pervaiz. He had also imposed a fine of Rs49,500 on central Punjab PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2021