LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the returning officers of NA-128 on a petition by Advocate Salman Akram Raja of the PTI against declaring him an independent candidate.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad heard the petition of the lawyer, who is contesting election from NA-128 with the PTI support.

Advocate Sameer Khosa appeared before the bench on behalf of the petitioner and argued that his client belonged to the PTI and intended to contest the elections as a candidate of the party after the RO accepted his nomination papers.

He said the petitioner also obtained a certificate of nomination of party candidate/party ticket from the PTI.

He stated that the petitioner was listed amongst the final list of the candidates issued by the PTI on its website.

The counsel pointed out that the PTI had been deprived of its electoral symbol by the ECP and the Supreme Court upheld the decision. However, he said, the party continued to exist and the petitioner was not an independent candidate.

He asked the court to declare that the petitioner was a candidate of the PTI and not an independent for the Feb 8 general elections.

Justice Najafi observed that it would be ascertained how a candidate can officially belong to a political party in the absence of its electoral symbol.

The judge said the bench would also see whether the ballot papers had been printed or not. He said the bench was eager to know the answers of many questions.

The bench directed the ECP and the RO to submit replies to the petition by Thursday (today).

ARGUMENTS SOUGHT: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought arguments on the maintainability of a petition against the appointment of Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex’s administrator as its chairman/dean.

Waqar Ahmad, a professor of nephrology at the hospital, filed the petition.

Petitioner’s counsel Safdar Shaheen Pirzada argued that the relevant rules of the PMDC envisaged the principal/dean of a medical or dental college shall be a professor having level-III qualification in medical sciences.

He said the requirement of the law lacked in the appointment of the respondent, Dr Akbar Hussain.

He said the issue in hand had already been decided by a division bench of the high court in a 2011 judgment. Therefore, he said, the respondent could not act as chairman/dean of the institute.

An assistant attorney general opposed the petition on the grounds of maintainability.

Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi adjourned the hearing till Jan 30 and directed the petitioner’s counsel to come up with more arguments on the maintainability.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2024